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THE 



. N\EN\0R1AL HISTORY 

OF 

HARTFORD COUNTY 

CONNECTICUT 



THE 



MEMORIAL HISTORY 



HARTFORD COUNTY 

CONNECTICUT 

1633-1884 

EDITED 

Bv J. HAMMOND TRUMBtJl-L LL.D. 

President of the Connecticut Historical Society 
IN TWO VOLUMES 

Vol. n. 
TOWN HISTORIES 



PROJECTED BY CLARENCE P. JEWETT 



BOSTON 
EDWARD L. OSGOOD PUBLISHER 
1886 




\y 



Copyright, 1886, 
By George Draper. 



AU rights reserved. 



Mntbcrsits iBtess : 

John Wilson and Son, Cambridge. 






CONTENTS xVND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



The Index to both volumes will he found nt the end of Volume I. 



CHAPTER I. 

Pace 

Avon. M. H. Bartlctt 1 

Illustration's : The First Wmlsworth Tower (fiom a drawing l>v Daniel 
WadjiWDrth), 2; Moiito Video, 3; The Congregational Cliurch, 7 ; 
The Meadow at Deer Cliff, Entrance to Deer Cliff, 9. 

CHAPTER II. 

Berlin-. The En: W. W. Woodirorth 13 

Illustration : Portrait of J. G. Percival, 2C. 

Fac-SIMILE: Extract from Kensington Society Records (1731). IG. 

CHAPTER III. 

Bloomfield. Mrs. Elisahdh G. Warner 29 

CHAPTER IV. 

Bristol. Epaphroditus Peck 39 

Il.LrsTRATioN.s : Map of Bristol in 1776, 41 ; a Deacon's Cap, 4G ; House 
hiiilt by .\l>il Lewis. 47 ; Relics of Old Times : Inlahl Cliest, Parson 
Newell's Ann-chair. Carved I'owder-horn, Sword, and Canteen, 48; a 
Roberts Clock, 52 ; Residence of Edward Ingrahani, 55. 

CHAPTER V. 
Burlington. The Eon. Rolmul Hitchcock 63 

CHAPTER VI. 

Canton. From Notes hy D B. Hole mul Levi Caxe 67 

Illustrations : " Satan's Kingdom," 68 ; the Original Cidlins Works, 
72 ; General View of the Ccdlins Company's Works at Collinsville, 
Granite Dam, linilt in IPfifl, Polishing and Packing Department, 73. 



vi C02JTENTS AND ILLrSTRATIO:N'S. 

CHAPTER VII. 

Page 
East Granby. Charles Horace Clarke 77 

Illustrations : A Higley Copper, 80 ; Newgate Prisuu iu ISiyi, 81 ; 
Newgate Prison as it now appears, 82. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

East Hartford. Joiicph 0. Goodivin 85 

Illustrations: Dr. Williams's House, 92; the Hartfcjid Bridge, 9G ; 
Mrs. Mary (Lord) Pitkin, 102; the Elisha Pitkin House, 104. 



CHAPTER IX. 

East Windsor. The Rev. Dr. hicrease N. Tarhox 107 

ILLU.STRATION : The Old Theological School of Connecticut (East Wind- 
sor Hill), 113. 



CHAPTER X. 

South Windsor. The Rev. Dr. Increase N. Tarhox 129 

Illustration: Pitch's Steamboat, V-\7. 

CHAPTER XI. 

Enfield. The Rev. George W. Winch 139 

Illustrations: Enfield Falls, 140; Map (of Ui42), 144; the A. G. 
Hazard Residence, 149 ; the North Family of Shakers, 1.53. 

Fac-similes : Receipt of Thomas Abbe, 148 ; Protest against Slavery 
(1777), 151. 

CHAPTER XII. 

Farmington. Th{. Rem. Dr. Noah Porter 163 

Illustration : The Present Meeting-House, 178. 

Unionville. James L. Gowlcs 199 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Glastonbury. William S. Goslee 205 

Illustrations : The Hollister House (107.5), 208 ; the Talcott House 
(1699), 209. 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Granby. William Scoville Case 229 



CONTENTS AND ILLUSTKATIONS. 



CIIArTKU XV. 

Page 
Hartland. From Notes hy Lester Taylor 237 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Manchester. The Rev. S. JV. Rohhiiui 243 

Illustkations : The Clioiipy Hi)incstoail, South Manchester, '24.'> ; Hiiins 
of tho Gla.s.s- factory, 2-17; Wyllys Falls, 254; a Cheney Clock, 
255; Manchester Centre (Soldiers' Slouuinent, Congregational Church, 
Town Hall), 257. 

CHAriEl! XVII. 
Marlborough. Miss Manj Hall 267 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

New Britain. Dm-id N. Camj^ 277 

Illi".STrations : The South Congregational Church, 287; the State Nor- 
mal School, 295 ; the Stanley Works, 29J> ; the Works of the Amer- 
ican Hosiery Company, 3()5 ; tlie Works of the Stanley Rule and Level 
Company, 315. 

Fac-SIMILE : School SuKscription (1784), 2!)4. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Xewixgton. Roger Welles 319 

Illustration: The Churchill House (1754). ."SS. 
Fac-SIMILE : Receipt of Simon Backus (172fi), 326. 

CHAPTER XX. 

Plainville. Simon Tomhinson 335 

iLLUSTRATtON : The "Old Root Place," ;136. 



CHAPTEE XXI. 

SiMSBrRY. Lucius I. Barber, M.D 341 

Illustrations : Tariffville Gorge, 348 ; the Old Bronson House, 359. 

Fac-Similes : Receipt of Samuel Stebhiiis (1784), 353; Reccii)t of Elihu 
Humphrey (1775), 358. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

SouTHiNGTON. Stephen Wnlkle)/ 363 

Illustrations: Southintrton Centre, :V\:^: Map of Sonthinirton, .T<)9. 
Pac-SI.mile: Society's Record (172(i), Saninil An.lnis, Clerk, .•t<i8. 



viii CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

CHAPTEE XXIII. 

Page 

SUFFIELD. Hczekiah Spencer Sheldo7i 383 

Illustkatioss : The Sheldon House, West Suffield, 405 ; the Connec- 
ticut Literary Institution, Main Buildings, 409 ; the Judge Gay House, 
412 ; Portrait of Sylvester Graham, 413. 

CHAPTEE XXIV. 

West Haktford. The Bcv. Franklin S. Hatch 415 

Illustrations : Portrait of the Kev. Ur. Nathan Perkins, 419 j the Con- 
gregational Church, 419 ; the Noah Wcb.ster House, 423. 

CHAPTEE XXV. 

Wethf,RSFIELI). Sherman W. Adams 425 

Illustrations : Marks of Turrainuggus and Mantowese, 432 ; Map of 
Wethersfield ( 1 634-1 1)44), 433 ; the Congregational Church, facing 
446 ; Portraits of the Rev. Dr. John Marsh, Silas Deane, and Rector 
Elisha Willuuns, 443 ; the Webb House, 478 ; Residence of S. W. 
Robbins, 487 ; the State Prison, 492. 

CHAPTEE XXVI. 
EOCKY Hill. Sherman W. Adams 493 

(■haptp:e XXVII. 

Windsor. 

General History. The Rev. Bcucl If. Tuttle 497 

Churches of Windsor. The Rev. Goiven C. Wilson 534 

Early Windsor Families. Jahcz H. Hayden 547 

Illustrations : Map of Windsor (163.'}-1650), 501 ; View of Broad 
Street, 519 ; Oliver Ellsworth and Wife, 526 ; Portraits of the Hon. 
Oliver Ellsworth and Governor W. W. Ellsworth, 527 ; the Ellsworth 
Homestead, 527 ; Grace Episcopal Church and Parsonage, 532 ; the 
Congregational Church, built in 1794, 533; Map of the Palisado, 546; 
the Hayden Homestead, 560. 

Fac-similes : The Town Lead weighed (1684), 509 ; Extract from the 
Rev. Samuel Mather's Note-Book, 539 ; Votes passed by the Church 
Society (dignifying the seats and beating the drums, 1735), 541 ; 
Poquonnock Parish Records (1724-1727), 543. 

CHAPTEE XXVIII. 

Windsor Locks Jahez H. Hayden 561 

Illu.strations : Map of Pine Meadow (1776), 563; the Ferry to East 
Windsor, 565 ; the Haskell House, 567. 



Index End of Volume I. 



LIST OF STEEL PORTRAITS. 

VOLUME 11. 



Ethan A. Andrews, of Xew IJrilaiii . . 
Charles Boswell, of West Hartford . . 
Eliuu BuKRiTr, of N'l'w Britain .... 
David N. Camp, of Ni-w liritain . . . 
Chari.es H. Dexikk, of Windsor Lociis . 
The Rev. Jonathan Kdwai.-ks, of Windsor 
Cornelius B. Erwin, of New Britain . . 
Nathaniel IIaydes, of Windsor . . . 
Augustus G. IIazakd, of Knlield . . . 

Elias Ingraham, of Bristol 

James C. Loomis, of Windsor .... 
Roswell a. Neal, of Southington . . . 

Alfred North, of Berlin 

Seth J. North, of New Britain .... 

Elisha M. Pease, of Enfield 

Gen. William S. Fierson, of Windsor . . 
'Major S A.Mr el Pitkin, of East Hartford. {Ar 
'The Rev. Timothy Pitkin, of Farmington. [Artftypi-. 
President Noah Porter, of Yale College 



■tolijpe.) 



Pace 
To/ac 280 

422 
312 
278 
5G8 
130 
31(; 
532 
IGO 
58 
516 
380 
20 
296 
158 
530 
103 
176 
164 



1 Thu ritlviii portraits are from the " Pitkin Genealogy," in prep-iration 
Pitkin, of Harttonl. 



X LIST OF STEEL PORTRAITS. 

Page 

Tlie Kev. John Smaxley, of New Britain To face 284 

W. H. Smith, of New Britain 314 

Feeuekick T. JStanlev, of New Britain 310 

Henuy Stanley, of New Britain 302 

John B. Talcott, of New Britain 282 

Orrin Thompson, of Tlionipsouville 156 

Geu. Samuel B. Webb, of Wetbersfield 478 

E. N. Welch, of Bristol 60 

Samuel Wilcox, of Berlin 22 

Edward Wilcox, of Berlin 26 

Frederick Wolcott, of Litchfield 136 

Oliver Wolcott, of Windsor 132 

Oliver Wolcott, Jr., of Litchfield 134 

Dr. William Wood, of East Windsor 126 



MEMORIAL HISTORY 

OF THE 

COUNTY OF HARTFORD, CONN. 



Coton fi0toric0. 



I. 

AVON. 

BY M. II. I3.VRTLETT. 

AVON was incorporated in 1830. Previously it was the nortli parish 
in the town of Farinington, and went by the name of Northinj^- 
ton. On tiic nortli it is hounded by Canton and Simsbury, and 
on the south by Farminjiton, while on the east and west it has as 
natural boundaries the Talcott Mountain range and the Farmington 
River respectively. Until 1845 the western boundary was somewliat to 
the cast of the river ; but in that year the portion of Burlington wliich 
lay cast of Farmington River was ;unicxed to Avon, cxce])ting a lilock 
of about eighty rods square, which was at the same time annexed to 
Canton. 

The area of Avon is about tliirty-tliree square miles. A consider- 
able portion is level fertile land in tlie valley of tlie Farmington River. 
This river jias.scs througli the town twice, first flowing south along its 
western boundary, and tlicn, after describing a semicircle in Farm- 
ington, re-entering Avon on its eastern side near the base of Talcott 
Mountain, and passing to the north into the town of Simsl)ury. 

Tlie northeastern corner ol the town is rcmarlvablc for the beauty 
of its natural scenery. Here is the highest ridge, south of Jlouiit Tom, 
Massachusetts, of that trap formation which intersects the State from 
north to soutii. On its highest ])oint, and within tlie boundary of Avon, 
which follows the top of the ridge for five miles, stands the ob.servatory 
known as Baitlctt's Tower, built in 18G7, a short distance from the site 
of the towers erected by Daniel AVadsworth in 1810 and 1840, which 
were successively destroyed, one i)y wind and the other by fire. Near 
by, too, is Mr. Wadsworth's former summer ri'sitlenee, called Monte 
Video.^ Professor Benjamin Silliman, in his "Tour iVom Hartford to 
Quebec," published in 1824, s|)eaks of "the beautiful and grand scenery 

' Now the summer rusideiicf of Mr. H. C. Jiulil, of HaitforJ. 
VOL. 11. — 1. 



2 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



of Jlonte Video, which makes this villa, with its surrounding oljjects, 
quite without a parallel in America, and probably with few in the 
world." 

The view from the top of the tower looks out and down eastward 
upon a vast plain of a thousand square miles, — the Connecticut val- 
ley, — stretching from Mounts Tom and Holyoke to the Haddam Hills, 
a distance of sixty miles, bounded on the east by the Wilbraham and 
Bolton ranges, and dotted with fifty cities, towns, and villages. In the 
dim northern outline stand perched upon their summits the houses of 
Mounts Tom and Holyoke, on either side of the Connecticut River, as if 
guarding its entrance to the beautiful valley below; while above and 
beyond appears the white tower of I\Iount Toby, more than fifty miles 
away in an air-line. In a clear atmosphere and good light the rocky 




THE FIKST TOWER (FKOM A DKAWINfi BY DANIEL WADSWORTH). 

summit of Mount Monadnock, in New Hampshire (the first land to be 
seen on entering Boston Harl)or), stands out distinctly, although eighty- 
throe miles distant. Nearer appear the cities of Holyoke and Spring- 
field, while nearer still, and more prominent to the view, stands 
Hartford, its towers and graceful spires, and, above all, the gilded dome 
of the Capitol, rising from the elms and maples which shade its streets. 
Farther to the south, the cities of Middletown, New Britain, and Meri- 
den appear ; and all through the broad valley, hei'c and there, villages, 
towns, and farms make up the panorama. 

Turning to the west, a narrower but still longer valley is in view, 
reaching from New Haven to Deerfield in Massachusetts, a distance of 
ninety miles, through which passes the New Haven and Northampton 
Railroad. In the extreme north, at the apparent head of the valley, 
appears the white house on the summit of Sugar Loaf Mountain, not 
far from the confines of Vermont and New Hampshire, hnmcdiatelv to 



AVON. 5 

the west, and almost beiieatli. lios spread the pictiircsqiio Farminirtmi 
vallc\'. All tiicsi' iiiakf up a pirtiiiv ul (niit't l)('auty, of poacc and 
lovoliiu'ss, rarely seen; and un every side are exliiliited the neatness 
and order and thrift so characteristic of New England. Beyond this 
pleasant valley rises range after range of hills; and over all tops Mount 
Everett, away among the Berkshire Hills, whose western base lies in 
the State of New York. Apart from the magnificent view thus ob- 
tained from the tow(>r. one chief object of interest in this remarkable 
region is the lieautiful lake, about one mile in ciieiimfereuee, which 
lies in a shidiow basin almost at the very top of the ridge, and only a 
short walk from the tower, being fully eight hundred feet abo\c the 
Connecticut River. 

Till' iiistoiy of the community subse(|uently forming the town of 
Avon begins with the formation of the parish of Northington (a name 
contracted from North Farmiugton). In ^lay, 1740, Preserved Mar- 
shall. Daniel Wilcox, Joseph Woodford, Jose])li Woodford, Jr., John 
Woodford, and William Woodford pi'titioiied the tiencral Assembly, rep- 
resenting that they lived in the northern ])art of Farmiugton, near the 
boundary line of Simsbury, and that they attended worship in Sinisbury, 
and wished to be annexed to that society, so that they might ]iay their 
taxes where they worshipped. This petition was opposed by Farming- 
ton, on the ground that it would be better to form a society among 
themselves, as there were thirty-one families, embracing more than one 
hundred and sixty souls. This remonstrance was accompanied by a 
petition for '"winter privileges," — that is, the right to hire a minister 
four months in a year, from Deceraber 1 to March 31, with exeniiition 
from a like proporti(jn of taxes for the support of i)reaching in the 
Farmington society. Neither petition was granted at this time, but at 
the October session in the same year the petition for winter privileges 
was renewed and granted. After four winters of these iirivileges, en- 
joyed from house to house, it was felt that time had come for a sepa- 
rate religious organization. Accordingly a jietition to that effect was 
addressed to the (Jeneral Assembly at the May session, IToO. The 
Farmington society declaring its free consent, the jietition was iiranted. 
and on the 20th of November of the next year the church was organ- 
ized. One week later the Rev. Ebcnezer Boogc was ordained the pas- 
tor, and continued in the office 

until his death, Feb. 2, 17G7. The <1 ^ /? .«„w^* 

new society, named in the act of (je(C/Z/J!iCr /j^oV^^O 
incorporation Northington Parish, / 

wor.sliipped in the house of i[r. ^ 

Benjamin Lewis until the completion of the meeting-house in 1754. 
This house was located on the east side of Farmington River, near the 
old biirying-ground. No relics of it now remain. 

Mr. Boogc was succeeded by the Rev. Riifus Plawley. whose pastorate 
continued fifty-six years. During this time occurred tlie wars of the 
Revolution and of 1812, which made large drafts on this parish; yet 
the number of families had increased to one hundred in 1800, and in 
182(5 it was one hundred and seventy-five, the population of the pari.sh 
being about one thousand. 

Dissensions which had long existed in the society as to the location 



6 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTV. , 

of a new meeting-house led to its division, in 1818, on the passing of a 
vote by a small majority (44 to 37) to locate the new house on the 
spot now occupied, in West Avon. This decision was hastened by the 
burning- of the old meeting-house in December, 1817, as was supposed 
by an mcendiary. On the passage of this vote the minority seceded, 
and in the same year organized the parish now known as East Avon, 
under the name of the United Religious Association of Farmington. 
The separation was finally made with kind expressions of Christian 
love and fellowship, and the new church was constituted by the Hart- 
ford North Consociation, the Eev. Abel Flint, Moderator, as the third 
church in Farmington. Besides erecting their meeting-house, the new 
society raised by subscription more than $5,000 for a permanent fund 
to support preaching. Upwards of $15,000 was raised for churcli pur- 
poses, in this population of less than a thousand, within a year after the 
secession of the new cluirch. 

By the addition to the parish of Northington in May, 1817, of the 
"new lots" known as Lovely Street and Whortleberry Hill, the centre 
of population had been moved westward, and the division just recorded 
became inevitable. But by this removal of the old society to the west- 
ward, and its loss of nearly half of its eastern members, it was placed in 
a position of comparative hardship and trial. About sixteen years later 
a church was organized in Collinsville, and in 1841 another in Union- 
ville ; so that the old parish, now become the first church of Avon, 
lost, in the twenty-five years followiiig the burning of its first house of 
worship in 1817, fully two thirds of its territory and more than one 
half of its financial strength. And yet it has had a large measure of 
prosperity, and liberally maintained church privileges. 

In 1820 the Rev. Ludovicus Robbins became Mr. Hawley's colleague. 
He was succeeded in 1824 by the Rev. Harvey Bushnell, who became 
pastor of the church on Mr. Hawlev's death in 1826, remaining till 
1834. He was followed by the Rev. John Bartlett (183.5-1847), wjiose 
successors have been as follows : Rev's Joel Grant, 1848-1852 ; William 
S. Wright, 1853-1859; J. M. Smith, 1859-1864; William M. Gay, 
1864-1866; William M. Atwater, 1866-1868; A. Goldsmith, 1868- 
1876 ; William Howard, 1877-1880, and S. D. Gaylord. Of the last 
five only Mr. Atwater was regularly settled. The present membership 
of the church is about one hundred and forty, or four times the number 
after the separation in 1818. 

The pastors of the East Avon (originally Farmington third) church 
have been Rev's Bela Kellogg, 1819-1829; Francis H. Case, 1830- 
1840 ; Stephen Hubbell, 1840-1853 ; 
^f^ J. S. Whittlesey (acting), 1853-1854; 

d^eA^ yL^/^oj^ Henry M. Colton (acting), 1855-1857 ; 
^^ P^ E. D. Murphv, 1859-1864 ; George Cur- 

tis, 1866-1868; H. G. Marshall (act- 
ing), 1869-1871; C. P. Croft (acting), 1873-1875, and N. J. Secley. 
The number of members at the formation of this church was thirty-one. 
About four hundred and fifty have been added since that time, and the 
present membership is one hundred and ten. 

The Union Baptist Society of Northington was organized Sept. 9, 
1817, and built a house of worship in the following year. No church 
was organized till 1831, when one of twelve members was constituted. 



AVON. 7 

It was always a feeble oitraiii/.atiou, and in 1855 services were discon- 
tinued and the house sold lor other uses. 

Professor Silliman. in his '• Tour," gives a charming picture of Avon, 
describing especially a service in the Congregational church. 




THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 



The incorporation of the town of Avon in 1830 followed upon the 
opening of the New Haven and Northanijiton Canal in 1828, and the 
conse(|uent prospect of largely increased business interests. The old 
turnpike was the thoroughfare of a large amount of travel and traffic, 
which the canal was expected greatly to develop and increase. To the 
East Avon people in particular did the canal pi'omise to bring growth 
of business and population, as at that point it crossed another great 
thoroughfare, — the Albany turnpike from Hartford. Collinsville, too, 
had grown into imjjortanco as a manufacturing village, and this was its 
nearest point of access to the canal. In 1830 a large three-story hotel 
was built near the canal and turnpike, by Francis WoodtV>rd : and soon 
after several other buildings were erected, among them one lung store 
where a large stock of dry goods and groceries was kept, and on the 
other side of the church-green another three-story building for commer- 
cial purposes. The village then had three hottds, harness, carriage, and 
blacksmith shops, beside several stores, but no manufactories. It was 
at this time of stir and hopefulness in the connnunity that the prominent 
men moved successfully for the incorporation of the town. 

A few years later the canal proved a failure, the turnpikes gave 
place to railroads, and Avon, having no manufacturing interests, made 



8 MEilUKIAL HISTORY OF HARTFOED COUNTY. 

but slow progress as a town. A cotton-factory with a capital of 
$20,000 was incorporated in 1846, but did not prove a success. 
Other minor manufactures have been carried on at times, among them 
those of spokes and hubs, of pedlers' wagons, and of safety-fuse. In 
1878 a creamery was incorporated, with a capital of •'14,000, and is now 
in successful operation. During the summer season over three tliou- 
saiid ([uarts of milk are daily received ; this is mostly made into butter, 
though some cream is sent to Hartford and New Haven. For twenty 
years there have been two or three tobacco warehouses, buying annually 
from twenty to twenty-five thousand dollars worth of tobacco from the 
surrounding farmers. In January, 1884, the Climax Fuse Company 
was formed, to manufacture safety-fuse, and it is now in operation, with 
a capacity of one hundred thousand feet a day. 

Agricultui'e has been the leading pursuit of the inhabitants of this 
town, which is favored by the fertility of most of its soil and by its 
proximity to good markets. Until recently the priucijial crops -were 
corn, potatoes, rye, oats, buckwheat, and hay, much attention being 
also given to the making of butter for the Hartford market. Toljacco 
has now come to the front rank of agricultural products, the soil of 
this valley producing a xevy fine quality of leaf, ■which is used for mak- 
ing the wrappers of cigars. The crop from single farms brings from 
five hundred to fifteen hundred dollars in a season. 

Avon has generally maintained good roads. In 1866 and 1867 a 
causeway two thousand feet long and fifteen or twenty feet in height 
was built on the old turnpike as it crosses the Farmington River, carry- 
ing the road above high water. Its town affairs have been managed 
with good judgment and economy, and it is now entirely free from debt. 
The population has not increased appreciably, standing as follows at 
each census since the town was incorporated: 1830, 1,025; 1840,1,001; 
1850, 995; 1860, 1,059; 1870, 987; 1880, 1,058. The number of 
school-children in town is at present two hundred and fifty-eight, and 
has probably not been much less at any time since the town was formed. 
Under the old law there were four schools in the town, managed by as 
many school societies. Since the passage of the new law abolishing 
these societies, the number of schools has increased to seven, one being 
added with new territory set off" from Burlington, and two by divi- 
sion of districts. Literary societies and debating clubs have existed 
at various times, and during the war there was a flourishing Union 
League. 

The military history of Avon is necessarily brief, and refers almost 
wholly to the War of the Rebellion, though for a few years following 
the Mexican War a volunteer company of seventy-five or eighty men 
was maintained in the town, and a similar one had an existence for 
some years after the Rebellion. During the war Avon furnished ninetj" 
six men to the army, being seventeen more than her quota, and paid 
in bounties iit«15,000. At least twelve of her soldiers were killed or died 
in the service. 

The Rev. Rufus Hawley, the second minister of Avon (then North- 
ington Parish), was a graduate of Yale College in 1767, and was 
ordained pastor of the Northington church, Dec. 20, 1769. His min- 
istry continued for fifty-six years, until his death in 1826. He was 




mmM:^;^^; 



THE .MKADdW AT DEliliCXlFF. 




, .uy' '\ : 



>*v'*ntttoft^s- 



EMKANCE T(J UEliKCLIFF, SUM.MKK KKSI DEM K ul- MK. Kl< IIAKD 8. KLY. 



AVON. 



11 



)orn ^zi/^ t^ut«/^^ y^y^c^ 




not ii man of brilliant parts, but a useful niiuistL-r, of whom Professor 
Sillimau t-avc a graphic dcscri|ition 
iu his " Tour." 

The Rev. John Bartlett was bor 
in Li'i)auou, August 1(!, 1784, 
son of Deacon Jolin and Hcsiic 

(Looniis) Bartlett. He was a descendant, on his niotlu'i's side, of John 
Carver, the fust (Jovernor of Plymouth Colony. He pursued liis theo- 
logical studies under the direc- 
tion of Dr. Dwight, and was 
ordained in 1811 at Warren, 
New York. From 1815 to 
ls:l(l lie was settled over the 
eliureh iu Wintonbui'y (now 
Bloomfield), in this county. Uesiguing this charge on account of ill 
health, he acted as agent of the American Bible Society till 1885, 
when he was installed in West Avon. In 1847 he retired from the 
active work of the ministry, and resided in East Avon until his death 
in 181)1), at the age of eighty-one. lie married at Warren, New Yoi'k, 
September, 1812, Jane, daughter of Judge David (lolden, and had 
eleven children. 

David W. Bartlett, son of the preceding, was born in Wintonbury 
April li), 1828. He has been an extensive traveller, and has written 
several books ; among them, " What I saw in London," '" Life of Lady 
Jane fJrcy," "Paris with Pen and Pencil," and "Pen-Portraits of 
Modern Agitators." For twenty ycar.s 

he was the Washington corrcs])ond- ^ , Y/" • C^-,xj^^XsJLi j 
ent of the Xow York '• Independent," 

Springfield " Republican," and New York "Evening Post," and for ten 
years clerk of the committee on elections, of the National House of 
Representatives. He is now American Secretary of the Chinese Lega- 
tion to this country, residing in Washington. 

Yung Wing, the distinguished Chinaman, a graduate of Yale College 
in 1854, Doctor of Laws of the same institution in 1870, founder of the 

Chinese educational mis- 

^^ / / _ sion to the United States, 

I \ / // ii^ ^'icl ^t one time Cliinese 

^oi ^S^L /Vi ^^iL ^ ^linister to this country, 

^f/ ' //W ' y^""^, '"'^ \i<i.^xv a resident of 

y f\ l/yf /^/t/ ~' » Avon. His wife is a 

native of Avon, beiiifj 




/ y^yy / native ot Avon, hemg a 

^'^'T/ grand-dauiihter l)v her 

A father of the Rev. Bela 

^^ Kellogg, first pastor of 



pap 
the East Avon church, 
and by her mother of the Rev. John Bartlett, pastor (as stated above) 
of the first church of Avon. 

The Rev. Bela Kellogg, just mentioned, was the son of Martin 
Kellogg, of Amherst, Mass. i and was born iu 1781. He was a graduate 
in 1800 in the sixth class of Williams College, studied theology with 
the Rev. N. Emmons, D.D., and was ordained in 1813 over tlie Conirre- 
gational Church in Brookfield, Conn. He removed to the church in 



12 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

East Avon in 1819, and was dismissed on account of ill health in 1830. 
He died April 30, 1831. He married, June 6, 1805, Lydia, daughter of 
Samuel Candee, of New Haven, and had six children. 

John Brocklesby, born in England in 1811, came with his father's 
family to Avon in 1820, was graduated at Yale College in 1835, and 

received the degree of 

y- LL. D. from Hobart Col- 

/A.^ y^^ ff ^/ / lege in 1868. He was 

^a^Z-V^ ^:^<^-Oe^C^Sl^ professor of mathematics, 

y etc., in Trinitv College, 

--.. / Hartford, from 1842 to 

1881, and has written several scientific treatises of high merit and 
reputation, among them the following : '' Elements of Meteorology," 
" Views of the Microscopic World," " Elements of Astronomy," " Com- 
mon-School Astronomy." He resides in Hartford. 

General Stewart L. Woodford, the distinguished statesman and 
orator, is of the family of that name which has been so prominent in 
the annals of Avon. He was born in New York City, but his father 
and grandfather were natives and residents of Avon while it existed as 
Northington Parish. 

David W. and Edward Kilbourn removed to the West from Avon. 
They became the most prominent and wealthy men of Keokuk, Iowa, 
David being at one time mayor of the city and president of one of its 
railroads ; both filled with ability various offices of responsibility and 
honor. 

" Deercliff," the summer residence of Mr. Richard S. Ely, of New 
York, occupies one of the most picturesque sites in the State, on the 
crest of the mountain, some distance south of the tower. Mr. Ely, 
a native of Hartford, son of the late William Ely, was formerly a mer- 
chant in England and in France, and has since retired from active 
business. At his farm at " Deercliff " he was one of the earliest 
breeders of Jersey cattle in the United States, and was influential in 
introducing them into this country. 



~:^ 



II. 

BEELIN. 



BY TIIK ItEV. W. W. WOODWOHTII. 

BERLIN is bounded on the nortli by New Britain and Xewing- 
ton ; on the east In' Rocky Hill, ('ronnvell. and iliddletown ; on 
tlie south by Middletown and ileriden ; and on the west by 
Southington. Its average length is not far from six miles, and its 
average breadth about five miles and a half. It is divided into the 
two parishes of Kensington on the west and Worthington on the 
cast. In tlie southeast part of the parish of AVorthington is the small 
but flourishing village of East Herlin. The scenery is remarkable for 
varied Ijcauties. The geological formation is the red sandstone, the 
graceful sli)|)e of its hills inters])ersed here and there with bold, pre- 
cipitous ridges of trap. On tlie south, partly in Berlin and partly in 
Meridcn, rises Mount Lamentation. The Mattabesett River, the heaii- 
waters of which are in IJerliu and New iJritain, flows through the town, 
and mutes with the Connecticut at Middletown. 

In .January, 16H(), the Oeneral Court of the Colony of Connecticut 
granted to the towns of " Middletown, Wethersficld, and Farmington all 
the vacant lands between their bounds and the bounds of Wallingford "' 
(which then included what is now the townshij) of Meriden), for the 
purpose' of establishing a new jilautation. 'IMie grant covered the tract 
of land now belonging to Berlin and New lii'itain. 

The lirst settler was Richard Becklcy. He appears to have been one 
of the early planters of New Haven, and to have removed to Wethers- 
ficld in 1608. The records of the colony of Connecticut show that in 
that year the Cencral Court granted to Sergeant Richard Becklcy three 
hundred acres of land Ivinu' bv Mat- ^.^ 

tabcsitt River. The ' records of ^f) /O (1 f) ^^ 

lands for Wethersliel.l inform ns \^(~^i^ 0^^f\A£zJ 

also that he purcha.^ed his grounds C_y ^^— ' ^ ^~ 

of "Tcrramoogus [Indian], with ^*"^'' 

the consent of the Court and the town of Wethersficld." This ti-act 
of land, thus granted to Richard Becklcy, on which he probably settled 
in lUi)8 or soon after, is in the northeast part of the town of Berlin, 
in what from time innnemorial has been called ■• Becklcy Quarter." 
Tile Indian of whom he purchased the land belonged to theMattabesitt 
tribe, and this was a part of their hunting-ground, (tther settlers soon 
gathered about Becklcy, and so the settlement of the Wethersficld part 
of this town began. 

About the year 1686, seventeen or eighteen years after Richard 
Becklev settled on the ^fattabesitt River, Richard Sevniour ami others 



14 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

began a settlement in what has for many years been known as Chris- 
tian Lane, in the northwest part of AVorthington Parish, then in " the 
southeastern bounds of Farmington." For protection against tlic In- 
dians these settlers built a fort or enclosure of palisades, within which 
they erected their cabins, and to which they resorted at nightfall for 
safety. The well which they dug, and from w^hich they drank, is still 
in use, furnishing a supjjly of good water. Richard Seymour was the 
first white person buried within the limits of Berlin, in a lot of ground 
which tradition tells us he had himself given for a burial-place. He 
was killed by the fall of a tree. The first settlers in Christian Lane 
attended church for several years in Farmington village ; and tradition 
says that families walked the whole distance, — not loss than eight 
miles, — over hills and through forests, carrying their children in their 
arms, the men going before and behind with loaded guns. 

This rich basin to which the settlers had come recei^"ed from them 
the name of Great Swamp, on account of its low situation. An Eccle- 
siastical Society was organized in Great Swamp in 1705. The new 
society, including in its territorial limits the greater jjart of the present 
towns of New Britain and Berlin, was called the Second Society of 
Farmington. It received the name Kensington by act of the General 
Assemlily, on the petition of its inhabitants, in May, 1722. Beckley 
Quarter, which in 1712 was assigned to the new West Society in Weth- 
ersfield, since called Newington, was in 1715 annexed to the Great 
Swamp Society ; and so Beckley Quarter became a part of the Second 
Society of Farmington. 

In May, 1718, a petition was presented to the General Assembly, 
signed by Samuel Feck, Samuel Hubbard, Samuel Gal])in, John Gil- 
bord, Joseph Harris, and George Hubbard, in which they " request 

that the several inhabitants now 

^ ^ dwelling, or that hereafter shall 

C^Zi^'V'^^^ ^^ ( C y dwell, towards the northwest corner 

t) of said township of Middletown with- 

^ ^ /" ^ (~X i" one mile and a half square of said 

'^^U^UX //y'] corner, and also all the ratable 
<^Q^^<^ estate within the said compass, be 

c^^ii^j*/''/- ^/^ released from ministerial or parish 

(^^'^^/^Cz^ charge in Jliddletown, and be an- 

/T' f) nexed to the Great Swamp Socie- 

P'jQf} 'yl yy- P ^ ^ tv." The petition was granted. 
(/ Ji~ 1 1- ^l ^ ^p ^J Q^ijpj. families _ Wilcoxes, Savages, 

fi ^ Sages, Johnsons, and others — came 

I/O A^y^ y in, and so the Middletown portion 

'I ^ ( ^'^T Tf^ of <^he parish of Kensington was 



(-^d^crrqe nu£^^r? 



"^^^Cie iflMjOc^^^c/ The Second Society of Farming- 

• P j£y ton was organized, as stated above, in 

1705. Tiie church — then the Sec- 
ond Church in Farmington — was formed December 10, 1712, with ten 
members, seven males and three females. Their names were William 
Bm-nham, Stephen Lee, Thomas Hart, Anthony Judd, Samuel Seymour, 
Thomas North, Caleb Cowles : these were the seven pillars. ' With 
the wives of Stephen Lee, Samuel Seymour, and Thomas Hart, they 



BERLIN. 15 

constituted the cluirch, to wliicli otlicrs were soon added. Tlicre were 
tlicn hut fourteen lauiilie.s witliin the limits of the society, which, 
Iiowever, did not as yet inchide the settlement in IJeckley Quarter. 
Mr. William Burnham, a native of Wetherslield, and a graduate of 
Harvard College, who had already preached to them for live years, 
was ordained the day the cluirch was organized, and acted as their 
pastor till his death, in 1750. 

The society, " by way of settlement," built him a liouse. he " finding 
glass and nails;" and on condition that he continued their pastor for 
nine years, secured to him, and to his heirs and assigns forever, "three 
parcels of land," one of which, however, consisting of fifty acres, was 
given by the town of Farniington. The house is still standing and 
occui)ied, though removed from its original site. His salary was fixed 
at i:50 a year, supplemented by £5 worth of labor for four years ; 
then to be raised to £<)0. He was, besides, to have '-a sufficient 
sui)ply of firewood for family use brought home and made ready for 
the fire." The salary was increased from time to time, until in 1728 
it was made £100. Mr. Burnham had a large family, and is said to 
have " accumulated a large estate." lie is descril)ed as a sound 
preacher, accustomed to i-efer much to Scripture in sujiport of his 
doctrine. 

The meeting-hou.se in which he first iireached was on a knoll a few 
rods southwest of where the Mitldletown railroad crosses Christian 
Lane. As the population increased, the house was found to lie too 
small and the locatitui inconvenient; and it was voted, in .Fanuary, 
1730 (42 in the allirmative and 30 in the negative), to build a new 
meeting-house " on Sergeant John Norton's lot, on the north side of 
Mill River," more than a mile southwest of the old house. The 
seeds of forty years of strife were in that vote. Serious difficulties 
arose resijccting the location. Recourse was had in the most solenni 
manner to the lot, to decide the (piestion. An advisory council was 
called to decide what the lot did not settle. The council advised that 
the site indicated by the lot was "the ])lace ]iointe(l out by Providence 
to build the meet iug-iiouse upon; "but the ])eoi)le would not build it 
there. The (ieneral Assembly of tlu> colony was ne.xt appealed to.' 
In Jlay, 1732, that boily ajipointed a committee to repair to the parish, 
view the circumstances, and fi.\ the place for building the meeting- 
house. The connnittee fulfilled their trust, and " pitched down a 
stake in Deacon Thomas Hart's home-lot," about forty rods south- 
west of the spot pointed out i)y the lot. The society would take no 
measures for ItuiMing there: and in Octoi)er, 1732. the General Court 
"ordered, directetl, and empowered the constable f)f the town of Farm- 
ington to assess and gather of the inliabitauts of Kensington ninepence 
on the pound of the polls and ratable estate of said society, and deliver 
it to the treasurer of the colony ; who was ordered, on the receipt thereof, 
to pay out the same to Captain John Marsh, Captain Thomas .Sey- 
mour, and Mr. James Church, all of Hartford, who were apiuiinteil and 
t'uipowered to be a committee, or any two of them, to erect and finish 
a meeting-hou.se, at the place aforesaid, for the society a'foresaid." 'i'his 
Hartford connnittee " sjieedily and effectually " did their work. They 
erected a house "tJO feet in length and 4o in breadth, containing in the 

' For u fac-siniili' of tlir iiiJoi'senieiit on tliis |ictition sec |>uge Iti. 



16 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



whole about 1500 persons." ^ This house was not far from the first 

corner east of Berhn depot, on tlie road leading to Worthington 

village. 

But the bitterness of feeling was not allayed ; it rather increased. 

Petitions to the General Assembly of the colony, praying for relief, 

came from distant parts 
of the parisli. But no 
means of relief were at 
liand, and the confusion 
and dissension contin- 
ued till 1745, when the 
first division of Ken- 
sington Parish was 
made Ity the organi- 
zation of the .Society 
of New Britain. Tli'e 
church in New Britain 
— the Second Churcli 
in Kensington — was 
foi-med April 19, 1758, 
with sixty-eight mem- 
bers. On the same day 
John Smalh'v — a nnme 
destined to be famous 
in tlie history of New 
England theology — 
was ordained. His 
character and work be- 
long i-athcr to the his- 
tory of New Britain 
tlian to that of Berlin. 
The church in New 
Britain received fifty of 
its original members 
from the mother 
church ; Init there were 
one luuidred and sev- 
enty-four members left 
in a chTireh which forty- 
two years before had 
been organized with ten 
memljers in a settle- 
ment of but fourteen 
families. This shows 
a rapid growth of popu- 
lation. 

After Mr. Burnham's 
death, six years elapsed 
before the Kensington 

church secured another pastor. At length, on the 14th of July, 1756, 

' So says the recovJ. Thoughtful men of this generatiou cannot easily see how fifteen 
hundred persons could be accommodated in a house of that size. 




g \^^ ^4^1 



BERLIN. 1 7 



Mr. Samuel Clark, a graaiiatc in 1751 of tlie College of New Jersey, 
was ordaiueil, ami reiiiaiiied pastor of the eliureli till his death, in 
1775. His tuiiibstoiie reeortls tliat " in the jiifts of iireaehiiig he was 
execllent, laborious, and pathetie." The divi.sion of tlie jparish did not 
end the strife between the remaining seetions. The controversy waxed 
liercer and iiotter, until, in June, 1771, one hundred and thirty-seven 
men siirned a paper, which sets forth in its preamble that - the society 
has long been in a very unliappy, broken, and divided state, and that 
various means iiave beeli unsuccessfully used to reconcile the subsisting 
dillicuhics;" and tlicn goes on to propose tliat the whole matter l)e 
submitted to the arbitration of Colonel John Worlhington, ol Spring- 
field, Colonel Uliver Partridge, of Hatfield, and Mr. Ehhid Taylor, of 




^&^., ^^ 



Wcstfield, in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. In conclusion, the 
subscribers solemnly pledge themselves, "hiying aside all former preju- 
dices and prei)ossessions, and all party and selfish views and designs, 
to abide by the decision of the arliitrators, and not directly or indirectly 
to oppose it." Tlie pledge was made, and kei)t in good faith. The arbi- 
trators did their part wisely. They decided tiiat it was best to divide 
the society again, drew the bouiKhiry line, and fixed tlie sites of the two 
new meeting-houses. A memorial was presented to the (leiieral Assem- 
bly in October, 1772, asking for this division, which was granted. The 
West Society retained the name of Kensington, and tlie East Society 
took the name of Worthington, as a memorial of the judicious efforts 
of Colonel Worthington in settling these long-standing difficulties. 

Tliiis ended this bitter controversy. The two societies at once 
began preparations for building meeting-houses on the sites indicated 
by the arbitrators. That in Kensington was dedicated Dec. 1, 1774. It 
has undergone repairs, alterations, and improvements, and is still the 
attractive and comfortable house 
of worship of the First Church 
and Society of Berlin. In Mareli, 
1779, Jlr. Benoni Upson (born in 
Waterbury, 17o0, graduated at 
Yale College, 177G) was settled as the third pastor of the church in 
Kensington, the first after the division of tiie parisli. Mr. I'pson was 
in every sense a Christian gentleman, a lover of jieaee, and a peace- 
maker. He was highly esteemed among the ministers of his day. He 
was a fellow of Yale College, which conferred on him the degree of 
Doctor of Divinity in 1817. He died Xov. 18, 182t), aged seventy-six 
years, after a jiastorate of forty-seven years, for th(> last ten of which 
he had a colleague. 

Mr. Royal Bobbins (born in Wethersfield, Oct. 21. 1787, graduated 
at Yale in 180(>) was ordained as Dr. I'lisoifs colleague June 2ii, 181''>. 
and resiirned his charge .lune 2(5. 1H,">!'. He studied theology with 
Dr. Porter, of Catskill, New York, and Dr. Yates, of East Hartford. 



{_yj;fi^r^^'ii-)^ /y^^^yny 



VOL. U. — ; 



18 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUXTY. 



worth. 
<^ of Anf 



To eke out an insufficient salary, he wrote much for the press ; and 
some of his numerous publications were of a high order of literary 

worth. His 
best-known 
is his 
'Outlines 
of Ancient 

and Modern History," which has passed through many editions, and 
been extensively used as a text-book in schools and colleges. After 
Dr. Upson's death Mr. Robbins was the pastor of the Kensington church 
for thirty-three years. He was a judicious and faithful minister, a wise 
counsellor ; as a preacher, less a " sou of thunder " than a " son of 
consolation," speaking the truth which he lived, in winning forms and 
in winning tones. His ministry was eminently successful. He died 
March 26, 1861, aged seventy-three years. Among his children are 
Royal E. Robbins and Henry A. Robbins, of the firm of Robbins & 
Ap'pleton, New York, and Edward W. Robbins, of Kensington. 

The Rev. Elias B. Hillard, a native of Preston and a graduate of 
Yale, was installed over this church May 16, 1860, and dismissed 
Feb. 27, 1867. He had previously been settled in Hadlymc. He re- 
moved from Kensington to Glastonbury, and thence to Plymontli, where 
he now labors as pastor of the Congregational Church. 

He was succeeded by the Rev. Alfred T. Waterman, a native of 
Providence, Rhode Island, and a graduate of Yale, installed June 23, 
1869, dismissed June 15, 1874. He is now a minister in Michigan. The 
Rev. A. C. Baldwin, now resident in Yonkers, New York, the Rev. J. 
B. Cleavcland, and Mr. C. AV. Morrow have since acted each for a time 
as pastor. The Rev. A. J. Benedict was installed May 3, 1883. 

The Worthington society held its first meeting Nov. 23, 1772. 
Its first meeting-house was opened for worship on Thursday, Oct. 13, 
1774. It stood for sixteen years without stcejde or bell. A vote, 
passed by the society Nov. 1, 1791, is worth transcribing: — 

" Toted, That the thanks of this society bo given to our friend, Mr. Jedidiah 
Norton, for so distinguished a mark of his good-will in giving us an elegant 
organ, and erecting it in the meeting-house at his expense." 

Was not this the first instance in which an organ was used as an 
aid to the worsliip of God in song in tiic Congregational churches in 
New England ? This was a sweet-toned organ, and was played with 
very various skill, till it was destroyed when the meeting-house was 
fired by some incendiary in 1848. The house was not burned down, 
but afterwards repaired, and is now used for a school-house and town- 
hall. A new church 
was dedicated 



1851. The cluirch ^-'^^^^^'^S^ m^ 



in Worthinu-ton was ("^ ^-^^■''^TT^^ 

organized 'Feb. 9, yCV 
1775, with ninety- 
five members. Its 
first pastor, the Rev. 
Nathan Fenn, was ordained May 3, 1780. Mr. Fenn was born in Mil- 
ford in 1750, graduated at Yale in 1775, and studied theology with 



Co LJ^3^^ jC^Al-n; 



BERLIN. 19 

Pr. SihmIIcv in Now Hritaiu. FTc died, aftor a ministry of ninctpcn years, 
April iM, I79',t. His tonilistono records that "in liis [lastoral ollicc he 
was faithl'ul ; in the (hilies of pii'ty constant ; in every rehitioii kind 
and atTeetionate ; and to all men liosj»italpic nnd hencvolent." 

Ill f>ecrnil)er, 1801, (he society voted to call the Rev. Evan Johns, 
a native of Wales, and for some time minister in Bury St. Edmunds, 
England, and to ])ay him an annual salary of 80OO and fifteen cords 
of wood. Mr. Johns was installed June 0, 1802. He was a very 
different man from JFr. Fenn. With much the stronger intellect, and 
much tlic irreater eIo(|ueiiee ami power in the pulpit, he had also a 
more iraseilile temper and ipiicker impulses, and lacked that mildness 
of demeanor and that judiciousness of counsel and of conduct which 
liad <?iven his predecessor so strong a hold on his people. After a 
ministry of nine years, he was dismissed Feb. 13, 1811. Mr. Johns 
subsequently preached in various places, and at length retired to Canan- 
daigna. New York, where he died in 1849, a) the age of cighty-si.x. 

He was succeeded, J[ay 20, 1811, by the Rev. Samuel Goodrich, a 
son of Dr. Elizur (Joodriidi, of Durham, and father of Mr. Samuel G. 
(n)odrich — known as Peter Parley — and the Rev. Charles A. Goodrich. 
He graduated at Yale in 178-3, and was pastor of the church in Ridge- 
field from 178G to iSll. He found the piety of the Worthington church 
in a very low state, from which the revivals enjoyed under his ministry 
did much to restore it. He 
was its sole pastor until ^^^K> 

1831, when the Rev. Am- ~p. J /9 (^ / * / 

brose Kdsim was installed y^^a^Tl'Ue^ <^ O C oCt^c^h^ 
as colleague pastor. Ab(uit 
three years and a half la- 
ter both jiastors were dis- 
missed on account of failing 
health. Mr. Goodrich died Sabbath evening, April 19, 1835, in the 
seventy-third year of his age. He was a man of sound judgment, 
solid understanding, and extensive knowledge. His preaching was 
plain and ]iractieal, cordial and aftectionate, and delivered with " a pecu- 
liarly full and solemn utterance." 

Mr. Edson was l)oiu at Brimfield, Mass., in 1797. His first jiastor- 
ate was at IJrooklyn. He was a man of great zeal, and when on his 
favorite themes of God's government and man's responsiiiility, of great 
power as a preacher. After his dismission in 1834 he removed with 
his family to Somers. While there he i)ublished a book of some merit 
entitled " Letters to the Conscience," which reached a second edition. 
He died at Somers, Aug. 17, 1835. 

James M. .Macdoiiaid, a native of Limerick, Maine, was the next 
pastor. He was ordained, when not yet twenty-three years of age, 
April 1, 1835. He was dismissed, against Die remonstrance and 
greatly to the grief of his jieople, Nov. 27, 1837, and soon after was 
installed over the Second Congregational Church in Xew London. 
From there he was called to Jamaica, Long Island ; thence to the city 
of New York; and thence, in 1853, to the Fir.st Presbyterian Churcii 
in Princeton, New .Jersey, where he continued for twenty-three years, 
until his death, April 2<». 1S7(;. He had many rare qualities as a 
preacher. A iorm and lace of manly beauty, a voice combining 




20 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

melody oud power, an intellect of robust vig-or, a habit of study and 
research, a heart full of sympathy, an unyielding loyalty to truth and 
to (jod, — these gave him much attractiveness and power. While at 
Jamaica he was invited to become Professor of Moral Philosophy in 
Hamilton College, but declined. He published several works of much 
merit, the last and most important of wliich was his " Life of the 
Apostle John." 

The Rev. Joseph Whittlesey was installed May 8, 1838, and dismissed, 
on account of failing health, Aug. 9, 1841. He still lives in Berlin. 

W. W. Woodworth was ordained July 0, 1842, and dismissed May, 
1852. He was succeeded by the Rev. William DeLoss Love, installed 
Oct. 5, 1853, and dismissed Nov. 23, 1857, now of South Hadley, Mass. 
During the first year of his ministry here one hundred and fifty-five 
were added to the church by profession. 

The next pastor was the Rev. Robert C. Learned, installed here 
Dec. 1, 1858, dismissed April 1, 1861. He went from here to Plymouth, 
where he died in April, 18G7, at the age of forty-nine. He was a good 
man, lovable and loving, with a well-balanced and well-rounded char- 
acter ; a man, too, of no small intellectual power, lucid in his thinking 
and in the expression of his thoughts. His son, the Rev. Dwight 
W. Learned, is now a missionary of the American Board of Commis- 
sioners for Foi'cign Missions in Japan. 

The next pastor was the Rev. Wilder Smith, afterwards of Rock- 
ford, Illinois, now residing in Hartford ; the next, the Rev. Leavitt 
H. Hallock, afterward of West Winsted, now a pastor in Portland, 
Maine ; the next, the Rev. Jesse Brush, now rector of an Episcopal 
church in Saybrook. After an alisence of nearly twenty-fom- years 
the Rev. W. W. Woodworth returned to the pastorate of this church 
in December, 1875. 

The history of a country town in New England must, to a very 
large extent, be the history of its churches and ecclesiastical societies. 
They arc its most important and most la.sting and influential institu- 
tions. In Berlin, as in other Connecticut towns, the Congregational 
churches and societies were at first, and for a long time, the only ones. 
But about the year 1815 the Rev. William R. Jewett, a Methodist 
preacher, began to hold services here. A class composed of twelve 
or more members was soon formed, and class-meetings and regular 
preaching services were held. Oliver Welden was the first class-leader. 
Among the early preachers were Rev's Smith Dayton, David Miller, 
and John R. Jewett ; and of those that followed these there were 
several ministers quite noted in their day. At the first ordinance of 
baptism seventeen were baptized by immersion. The first Methodist 
house of worship in Berlin was erected in the south part of Worthing- 
ton village in 1830. In 1871 the society bought the house formerly 
used by the Universahsts, remodelled it, and now worships in it. 

The corner-stone of the jNIcthodist church in Kensington was laid 
in 1865. The house was built and the ]iarsonage procured by means 
of the gifts of Mr. Moses Peck and Miss Louisa Loveland. 

In March, 1864, religious services began to he held regulai'ly in a 
hall in East Berlin, and in the following May a Methodist class was 
formed there. A neat chapel was dedicated in the s])riug of 1876. 

In 1829 " The First Society of United Brethren in the town of 




C LH.^^ 




k^ 



/ 



BERLIN. 21 

Berlin" was formcil. In l!^32 the naiiic whs clumfred to "'I'lio First 
Uiiiversalist Society in l>i'rlin." In l.s:31 tlie society l)ei2an liuikl- 
'm>i, .and in ls;32 met for tlie first time in the new clinrcli. The first 
pastor was tlie Rev. John Boyden, wlio was t'oilowoil in 183l> hy the 
Rev. William A. Stickney. ile was snccucded in 1840 hy the Rev. 
Horace G. Smith. In 1843 Mr. Daniel II. I'linnli was ordained, who 
served the .society till 184;"). Alter that, prcachinu' services were irreg- 
ular, and in 187t) the honse was sold to School District No. 5, and the 
money paid to " the treasnrer of the Universalist State Convention of 
the State of Connecticut, to be used for the benefit of the Universalist 
denomination in this State." 

In May, 1781, a petition was presented to the General Assembly then 
sitting in Hartford, for a new town, to be -called Kensington. Tlie peti- 
tion was not granted ; but the subject was agitated until in the spring 
of 1785 the new town of Berlin was formed of parts of the three 
towns of Wethersrield, Farmington, and Middletown. The town then 
included nearly all the territory now in the towns of New Britain 
and Berlin. Town-meetings were held fur sixty-live years in turn in 
each of the threi; parishes into which the town was divided. In 18;j0 
the citizens of Kensington and Wortlungton, seeing themselves out- 
voted by the increasing population of New Britain, and perceiving, as 
they thought, a disposition in that thriving village to centre all the 
town business there, joined in petitioning the General Assembly to be 
separated from New Britain. Tlie petition was granted. Berlin became 
a new town with the old name, but with only one representative in the 
State logislutiu'C! ; while New Britain has two re|)resentatives and the 
records of the old town. Immediately after the division, the population 
of the new town of Berlin was 1,869 ; by the census of 188(3, it was 
2,385. Berlin has two town-halls, — one in each of its two societies, — 
and town-meetings are 

held the even vears in -/ f // 

Kcn.simrtoii aii.rthe odd JL/ /^ y //^ ^. /^ 

years in Worthington. c/ /^^-ti.tj^d^'t^^/^ <5^^"Z>^t^ 
It is noteworthy that Jj 

since the division of the ^^^^ /^ /^ / 

town (and for six years (2/ C-U^x/ /W.-ck/Hc/ 

before) one man. Deacon 

Alfred North, of Worthington, has until now (1884) held the offices «f 
town clerk and treasurer, having been voted for by men of all jiartics. 

From the beginning the people of Great Swamp turned their 
attention to the cdueatioii of the young, and made provision for the 
emidoyment of teachers. At first," a teacher Avas hired for the whole 
society, to go from one neighborhood to another, teaching in such jdaces 
as were designated by the committee. Not long after, scliool " sections," 
or districts, were formed. After the division of the society in 1774, 
education was one of the chief subjects of consideration by the in- 
habitants of both .societies. Berlin Academy was incor|)orated by the 
legislature in 1S02, and was for many years liourishing and n.seful. 
Miss Emma Hart, afterward Mrs. Willard, of Troy, was lor a time one 
of its teachers. In 1831 the Wortiiington Academical Company was 
formed, and soon after erected a school building. Among the teachers 



22 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

in that building were Ariel Parish, since distinguished as an educator 
in Westheld and Springfield, Mass., and in New Haven ; and Edward L. 
Hart, who alter a few years removed to Farmington, and in company 
with his uncle, Sijneon Hart, conducted there an excellent boys' school. 
In 1876 he closed an honored and useful life. The town has now 
nine school districts, with nine common schools, in which instruction 
of about the average quality is given in the ordinary English branches. 
There is no high school nor academy. Advanced scholars are sent 
out of town — mostly to New Britain, Hartford, and Middlctown — 
to complete their school studies. 

The manufacture of tin-ware in this country probably began in 
Berlin. About the year 1740, William Pattison, a native of Ii-eland, 
came to this place. Soon after, he began the manufacture of tin-ware, 
and continued in this business till it was suspended by the Revo- 
lutionary War. After the war, the business was resumed in this and 
in a number of the neighboring towns by persons who had learned the 
trade of Pattison. At first, the products of the art were carried about 
the country for sale by means of a horse with two baskets balanced on 
his back. After the war, pedlers began to use carts and wagons, and 
went with their wares to every part of the United States. 

The author of Dwiglit's Travels tells us that immediately after the 
war with Great Britain, which closed in 1815, "ten thousand bo.xes of 
tinned plates were manufactured into culinary vessels in the town of 
Berlin in one year." A few years later, the business in this place began 
to decline. Now there are two shops, in each of which two or three 
hands are employed, — one in the village of Worthington, and the other 
in East Berlin. 

There are other manufacturing interests of some importance in the 
town, — two carriage-shops, one in East Berlin and one in Kensington ; 
three grist-mills, two saw-mills, six blacksmith-shops. W. W. Mildrum 
is doing a considerable business in East Berlin as watch and clock re- 
pairer, and in cutting and polishing agates as jewels for ship-surveyors' 
compasses, etc. The agates are mostly found in the trap ledges of Ber- 
lin. On Belcher's Brook the Blair Manufacturing Company formei'ly 
made planters' hoes, garden-rakes, etc. The building is now occupied 
by Hart, Burt, & Co., wood-turners, who employ seven hands. The 
Mattabesitt River, where it runs through East Berlin, Avas utilized more 
than eighty years ago by Shubael Patterson and Benjamin Wilcox for 

spinning cotton yarn, which was 
put out to women to be woven 
^ on hand-looms. Afterward Eli- 

v^ ^ shania Brandegec engaged in 

^ the same business. The build- 

ings next passed into the hands of a joint-stock corporation which 
made tinners' tools and machines. The Roys & AVilcox Comi)any 
took the business in 1845. The establishment was burned in 1846, 
and not long after rebuilt. In 1870 the premises passed to the Peck, 
Stow, & Wih'ox Company, which employs in this factory one hun- 
dred and twenty-five hands. The corporation has now a capital of a 
million and a half, and employs fifteen hundred hands in its factories in 
eight towns. Mr. Samuel C. Wilcox, of this company, is a native and a 
resident of Berlin, a good business man and a public-spirited citizen. 



<^-^< 



t^ ^^<^?^ 




5< G. O^U c . 



cry 



BERLIN. 23 

The Berlin Iron Bvidtre Company, formerly the Corrufrated Metal 
Company, also doinir business on the ilattabesc'tl Kivt'r. in East Berlin, 
was founded l)y Franivlin Roys fur the manufaelure of corrugated 
shiuirles, and afterward made tire-proof shutters, doors, and roofs. 
It now makes parabolic truss bridges. S. C. Wilcox is president of 
the comi)any, and C. M. Jai'v is eliief engineer and superiulendent. It 
is doing a thriving business, employing from fifty to seventy-five hands, 
and turning out from itslOOiOOO to )?200,<I00 worth of iron-worlv in a year. 
In Kensington, Mill River — abraneh of the JIattabesett — furni.shes 
power for manufacturing ])nrposes, which has long been used. Forty or 
fifty years ago the Moore C<im|iany beu-au to make steelyards, garden- 
tools, etc. Jn 1S42, J. T. Hart l)egan the manufacture of shovels, tongs, 
and a few brass goods. In 1879 the Peck, Stow, <.t Wilcox Company 
bought the establishment, and also that of the Moore Company, and 
now does the greater part of the manufacturing that is done in Kensing- 
ton. It employs from two lunidred ami fifty to three liundrcd hands. 

In former times there was a great deal of " trade" in Wortliington. 
People came from neighboring towns for this jiurpose. Some of the 
stores, especially tiiat of Elishama Brandegee, enjoyed a high repu- 
tation in these parts. But biisiness of this kind has sought other cen- 
tres. There are now two stores in Kensington, two in the village of 
Wortliington, and one in East Berlin. This is largely an agricultural 
town. It is well suited for grazing and for the production of hay, large 
quantities of which, as well as of milk and butfrr, are carried for sale 
to neighboring markets. Garden vcgctabU's and small fruits arc also 
raised to sujiply other places. Many fine orchards are scattered over 
the town. The soil is capable of producing in abundance any kinds of 
fruit or grain that can lie grown in New England. 

During the War of Independence what is now tiie town of Berlin was 
but a parish lying witliin the limits of three towns, and therefore all 
military ]iroceedings within this parish were credited to these towns. 
But the citizens of the jiarish took an active part in the war. The 
church records of Kensington and Wortliington liear the names of 
several who died in camp or were killed in battle. Almost every aljle- 
bodied man in the parish was in the service during some jiart of the 
war. After the affair at Lexington, Lieutenant Amos Hosford, after- 
ward a deacon of Wortliington church, went witii sixteen men, prob- 
ably vohmteers from the Middletown part of this parish, to join the 
army at Boston, in the active 
and i)atrii)tic measures taken In' ^ ^ ^ 

Wetherslield and Farniimiton, O' / /^ >^^ <«<• v _^ 
men belonging to this parish ^^ ^ ^'^^^'^C^ ^^^rst^y^ 
took a prominent part. In ITTo, 

Colonel Selaii Hart, a citizen of Kensington, was apjwinted by the 
General Court as one of a committee *' to provide stores of lead as 
they shall judge necessary for the use of the colony, to contract for 
ami take lead ore that sliall be raised out of the? mine of Matthew 
Hart, of Farmington. and to dig and raise ore in said mine if profit- 
able and necessary for the use of the colony." How many bulh'ts 
were made from the lead of that mine does not now ajtpear. The 
mine is in Kensington, on the Mill River. It does not seem to 



24 .MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

yield lead enough to be profitable to work. Colonel Selah Hart com- 
manded a reo-iraent in 1776, and when Washington evacuated New 
York he was cut off and captured by the British, and was held a pris- 
oner for two years, during most of which time his wife knew not 
whether he was dead or alive. He was afterward promoted to the 
command of a brigade, which he held till the close of the war. 

Major Jonathan Hart, a gallant and distinguished officer, was a 
native of Kensington. He joined the army at the beginning of the 
Revolutionary War, and continued in service till the war closed and 
afterward, until he and the greater part of his command were slain in 
attempting to cover the retreat of the shattered remains of the army, 
when General St. Clair was defeated on the banks of the Walmsh, 
Nov. 4, 1791. 

When, in April, 1861, President Lincoln sent out his call for troops, 
men here, as everywhere throughout the Northern States, showed them- 
selves ready to respond to the call. In the course of the war there 
were one hundred and seventj^-one volunteers from this town ; and the 
town appropriated for bounties .i? 22,807.17, and for the support of the 
families of volunteers, •$6,959.58, making a total of $29,266.75. Twelve 
were killed in battle, and twenty-two died while in the army. In Com- 
pany G of the Sixteenth Regiment there were twenty-seven ]>erlin men, 
of Avhom two were killed and six were womided at the battle of Antie- 
tam, and six died in Rebel prisons at Andersonville, Charleston, and 
Florence. More than thirty of the soldiers of the late war are buried 
in the cemeteries of this town. The soldiers' monument in Kensington, 
"believed to be the first erected to the memory of Union soldiers in 
this State," commemorates the loss of fifteen volunteers from Kensing- 
ton. The monument in East Berlin bears the names of thirty-five men ; 
some of whom, however, were from neighboring districts in Cromwell 
and Westfield. 

The Rev. John Hooker, who succeeded President Edwards as pastor 
of the church in Northampton, Mass., was born in Kensington in 1729, 
graduated at Yale in 1751, and was ordained in 1753. He was a de- 
scendant, in the fourth generation, of the renowned Rev. Thomas 
Hooker, of Hartford. His wife was a daughter of Colonel Worthington, 
of Springfield, who gave the name to Worthington Parish, in Berlin. 
He died of the small-pox at Northampton in 1777, in the forty-ninth 
year of his age. 

Emma Hart Willard was the sixteenth child of Captain Samuel 
Heart (so the name is spelled in the old records). Captain Hart was a 
remarkable man. He was descended on his father's side from Stejihen 
Heart, one of the most intluential of the first settlers of Farmington ; 
and on his mother's side from the Rev. Thomas Hooker, of Hartford. 
Captain Hart was prominent in all the affairs of the town, and the first 
clerk of the Ecclesiastical Society of Worthington. His daughter 
Emma Avas born in Worthington in 1787. Her childhood and youth 
were full of lirilliant promise. At seventeen she was teaching a com- 
mon school, and at nineteen an academy in Berlin. At twenty she was 
preceptress of Westfield Academy, and not long after she was placed 
at the head of the Female Academy at Middlebury, Vermont. At twenty- 
two she was married to Dr. John Willard, and opened a lioarding-school. 



BERLIN. 25 

Her thoughts and jihins wore devoted to the edueation of tlic voiinir of 
lier sex. lu 1.^18 slie sent to (iovernor Clinton, i>( New York, her plan 
for a female seminary, which lie recommended to the legislature in hi.s 
next annual message. The legislature incorporated an academy, to he 
established at W'aterford. She took the charge of it, hut after a few 
years removed to Troy, and, aided by tiiat city, established there her 
famous school. As the years passed, her school increased in popularity 
and excellence, until it furnished for four hundred jjupils access to 
nearly all the literature and science taught in the colleges of this coun- 
try. Dr. Willard aided her in all her plans; but after his death, in 
ly:2o, she took into her own hands the entire responsibility of the school, 
and its popularity continued to increase. In 1838 she left this work 
and devoted herself to literary labors. She jndjlished during her life 
several sehool-l)ooks,'' Poems," a" History of the United States," "Jour- 
nal and Letters from France and (!rcat Britain," "On the Circulation 
of the Blood," "Kespiration and its Effects," " Morals for the Yoinig," 
and other works. Slie died in Troy in 1870, in the eighty-fourth year 
of her age. Her life has Iteen written by Jolin Lord. 

Her sister, Ahnira Hart, better known as Mrs. Almira Lincoln 
Phel|)s, was the seventeenth child of Captain Hart, and was born in 
Worthington in 1793. She received her education in part in her sister's 
schools. At the age of nineteen she taught a school in her father's 
house, and not long after took charge of an academy at Sandy Hill, 
New York. In 1817 she was married to Simeon Lincoln, of New Britain, 
then editor of a literary j>aper published in Hartford. He died in 18:23, 
and in 1831 she was married to the Hon. John I'heljis. of Vermont, 
an eminent jurist and statesman, and went to reside in (Juilford, and 
afterward in Brattleboro', Vermont. In 1838 she took charge of a 
seminary at West Chester, Peiin., and afterward one in Railway, New 
Jersey. In 1841 she was invited by the Bishop of Maryland and the 
trustees of the I'atajiseo Institute to " found a Church school for girls." 
Here she continued liftecn years, doing, as her sister says, " her great 
and crowning educational work." Her husband died in 1840. She 
died in Baltimore in 1884, at the age of ninety-one. From 181G she 
was a devoted member of the Episco|>al Church. She pulilished many 
books for students in the various departments of natural science; the 
best known of which is her work on IJotany, published in ISJ!*, while 
she was vice-principal of the 'J'roy Seminary. 

James Gates Pereival, second son of Dr. James Percival. a ])hysician 
of great merit, was born in Kensington, Sept. 15, 170'). He received 
his early education in the district school and in his father's library, 
and jierhaps more still from the beauties of Nature, with which ho was 
familiar. He graduated at Yalo in 181.5. While in college he distin- 
guished himself as a poet, and not less for his mathematical tastes and 
abilities. He is commonly sjiokcn of as Percival the poet; but he was 
also, and not less, eminent as a geologist, a i)liilologist and linguist, a 
chemist, a botanist, a geographer, and a mathematician. After leavinir 
college he taught school for a tim<\ and then studiiMl medicine, and 
began to jiraetiso it, but soon left it. He was for a time Professor of 
Chemistry at West Point, liut llndinii his duties irksome, soon resigned. 
He was at one time employed in connection with Professor Shepherd 
to make a geological survey of Comiecticut, and his work was a marvel 



26 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 




for thoroughness, and his report of five hundred pages so profoundly 
scientific that it is said " even scientific men could hardly understand 
it." He also rendered very valuable assistance to Dr. Webster in pre- 
paring and revising his great dictionary. His last work was done as 
a geologist in Wisconsin ; first in the employment of the American 
Mining Company, surveying their lead-mining regions, and then in the 
service of the State. He published his first report as State Creologist 
in 1855, and was preparing his second when he died at Hazel Green, 
May 2, 185G. A complete edition of his poems, with a biographical 

sketch, was published by 
Ticknor <fe Fields, Boston, 
in 1859, and his life has 
been ^^■ritten by the Rev. 
Julius H. Ward. Mr. Ed- 
ward W. Robbins, of Ken- 
sington, also, in an article 
published in the " New 
Englander," in May, 1859, 
ga\e an account of Per- 
cival, derived from origi- 
nal and authentic sources 
and from personal recol- 
lections. Two other Ber- 
lin boys were classmates 
of Percival in Yale. One 
was Horace Hooker, a 
descendant in the sixth 
generation from Thomas 
Hooker. He was settled 
as pasti:)r at Watertown, 
^ and afterward preached 

^-^^ (^^^^-z-^i^-i-e,^ ^P ^* Middletown and in 

Cy^ J^ *^-*''*''*^-^. other places. He was for 

several years the secre- 
tary of the Domestic Mis- 
sionary Society of Connecticut. He spent the last years of his life in 
Hartford, where he died in 1864. 

Horatio Gi'idley, a native of Kensington, was another member of the 
class of 1815. He practised as a physician for many years in Worthing- 
ton, ranking high in his profession. He was a fellow of Yale College, 
and at one time State senator. He died in Hartford in 1864. 

Dr. Charles Hooker, another descendant of Thomas Hooker, was 
born in Kensington in 1799, graduated at Yale in 1820, and received 
his degree of M.D. in 1823. "He became Professor of Anatomy and 
Physiology in Yale College. He died in New Haven in 1863. Onei 
who knew him well says of him : " He was an eminent physician and 
surgeon, and was distinguished hot less for his professional skill than 
for his active piety and benevolence." 

The Rev. Charles A. Goodrich was not a native of Berlin, but he was 
a son of one of the pastors of the Worthington church, and he spent a 

_^ Mr. Edward W. Bobbins, of Kensington, to whose manuscript " History of Kensing- 
ton " the writer of tliis sketch acknowledges his great indebtedness. 



BERLIN. 27 

large part of the most active portion of his life in Berlin. lie was 
liorn in Ridiielieid in ITIR), tiiaiiuated at Yale in Islii. and was or- 
dained pastor of the South Clnireh in Worcester, Mass., in 1818. After 
a few years lie resigned his charge on account of failing health, and 

cV>/^«— » d? . C2^^/ ^::^v~cyC y^-^i ^ 

removed to Kensintrton, where ho tauirht a school for boys. After 
his fatiier's death he removed to Worthinjiton, where he was engaged 
mainly in writing books for publication. He was the author of a num- 
ber of works which enjoyed a high degree of popularity. His "History 
of the United States," for schools, went through many editions, and is 
still in use. His " Hiiile History of Prayer" was one of the latest and 
most useful of his books. He was at one time State senator, and 
always a puiilic-spirited citizen and a fervid Christian. In 1847 he 
removed to Hartford, where lie died in 1862. 

Another native of Berlin was the Hon. Richard D. Hubbard, after- 
ward a resident of Hartford, eminent as a lawyer and statesman, 
at one time a member of the national House of Representatives, and 
more recently (Jovernor of the State of Connecticut. He <licd in 
Hartford in 1884. 

Tiie Rev. Andrew T. Pratt was born at Black Rock, New York, in 
1820, but came to Berlin to reside in childhood, and united witli the church 
in Worthington in 1838. He graduated at Yale in 1S48, studied both 
medicine and theology, and was ordained missionary of the American 
Board in 18.52. His field of labor was in Asiatic Turkey, at Aintab, 
Aleppo, Antioch, and .Marasli, where he was instructor in the Theo- 
logical Seminary. In 18()8"his fine literary taste and thorough ac- 
quaintance with tile Turkish language led to iiis call to take part in 
tiic revision of the Scriptures, and in othci- literary labors at Constanti- 
nople. His success in this new field of labor was all that had been 
anticipated;" and his death in 
1872, in the midst of his ust'fiil- 



six, was a loss which was deeplv 
felt, 



j,j(htM^ 



ness, at the early ago of forty- ^^^^^^ UU.U^ 

Simeon Xorth. HD., LL.D., 
was born in Berlin in l.S(j2. Itut 
removed to Middletown when he 
was twelve years of age. He 

graduated at Yale, with the first honors of his class, in 1825. He was 
tutor at Yale from 1827 to 1820; then for ten years Profes.sor of Latin 
and Greek in Hamilton College, at Clinton, New York : and from 1839 
for eighteen years president of that college. He retired from the presi- 
dency of the college in 1857, and until ids death, in January, 1884, he 
resided at ('liiiton. 

His nephew, Edward North, also a native of Berlin, was cho- 
sen Professor of Ancient Languages in Ffaniilton College when he 
was only twenty-four years of age, and has filled that office, greatly 



28 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

beloved and eminently successful as an instructor, for thirty-nine 
years. 

Deacon Alfred North, Edward's brother, was born in Berlin, Oct. 3, 
1811. Witli the exception of a few months, he has always lived in his 

native town. For more than forty years he has been the town clerk 
and treasurer of the town of Bci'lin, clerk and treasurer of Worthing- 
ton Ecclesiastical Society, and treasurer of the Second Church in Berlin. 
He has been a deacon of that church for forty-seven 3-ears, and was for 
twenty years the superintendent of its Sunday school. He is esteemed 
by all as a man of sound judgment and incorruptible integrity. 

Samuel C. Wilcox was born in Berlin, December, 1811, son of Ben- 
jamin Wilcox and grandson of Samuel Wilcox. In eai-ly life he taught 
school, and after that was in business in North Carolina as a mer- 
chant and a planter. He has been largely interested in manufacturing. 
From 1842 to 1870 he was one of the principal managers and stock- 
holders of the firm of Roys & Wilcox. Since 1870 he has been a direc- 
tor and vice-president of the Peck, Stow, & Wilcox Company. He is 
president of the J. 0. Smith Manufacturing Company, and of the Berlin 
Iron Bridge Company ; a director in the Southington National Bank, 
and the Phoenix National Bank of Hartford. He was first selectman 
of the town of Berlin for seven consecutive years, and represented the 
town in the State legislature in 1884. He is a public-spirited citizen 
and successful business man. 

Edward Wilcox, his brother, was born in Berlin, April 22, 1815. 
He spent the greater part of his life in his native town, on the ances- 
tral farm, and engaged with his brother in various enterprises. In 
1850 he was chosen one of the deacons of the church in Worthington ; 
and he continued in that office a faithful and earnest worker until his 
death, Aug. 13, 1862, at the age of forty-seven. 

The name of Dr. Elishama Brandegee should not be omitted. He 
was for more than forty years the loved and trusted physician of a 

large part of the 

^^/^ ,1 y4n families of the 

OzJ^A/l^'t^MM^ yj^ :P^^^^y^.^i^^-^^^ town. He was a 

A native of Berlin, 

where he died in 

1884. His father, Elisha Brandegee, was a merchant, and otherwise for 

many years an active business man of true public spirit, who did much 

for the prosperity of the place. 



m. 

BLOOMFIELD. 

BY Mns. ELISAIJKTII f;. WARXER. 

BLOOMFIET>D was incorporated in 1835, and consisted of Winton- 
1)11 r\ I'aiisii and a portion of Poquonuock Society in Windsor. In 
1840 tiie town received an addition of a jiart of Sinisburv known 
as Scotland I'arisii. As now constituted, it is hounded on the uortli 
and east l)y Windsor, on tlie south l)y Hartford, and on the west bv 
Sinisbury and Avon, and averages four miles in lenutli and in breadth. 
On the cast border a forest a mile and a half l)road extends the whole 
length of the townshiii from north to south, and on the west is the 
range of hills called Talcott Mountain. Through this broad, gently 
undulating vall(\v run tliree large brooks, which unite in the south 
part to form Woi ids River; au<l this, meeting another small river in 
the southwest part of Hartford, forms Pai'k River, which flows through 
the city and (Mn]ities into the Connecticut. These three Bloomlield 
streams are all of slow current, and overflow their banks several times 
a year, thus greatly enriching the soil. 

Another fact favorable to Bloomfield as an agricultural town is that 
the climate is naturally warm for so high a latitude. Beyond the moun- 
tain there is often snow, when only rain falls here. Between these 
streams lie cultivated fields and orchards, with large intervals of excel- 
lent mowing-ground. It is a singular fact that on the opposite sides of 
these brooks in many places there is an entire difference of soil. 

The east part of the town is quite level laud, with a warm, sandy soil ; 
the middle, from north to south, is principally a clay soil, covered with 
rich, deep loam, csjiecially good for mowing-land ; and as the ground 
grows higher, even to rolling hills toward the west, the soil is chietly 
red loam, |)articularly well adapted to fruit culture, and has always 
produced the finest ajiples and pears. Formerly it yielded also cherries 
and plums, and, at certain periods, peaches in the greatest ]ierfi'ction. 
Appearances indicate the appi'oaeli of another of these peach-cy(des, as 
they have been aptly called, and many farmers are once more setting out 
peach-orchards. All this feitile region abounds in birds. A former 
resident of the town remembers counting forty-six kinds about her 
home, among them the scarlet tanager, cuckoo, rose-breasteil grosbeak, 
kiideer, and indigo-bird. It was always the home of the fringed gentian, 
and of almost every other wild flower of southern Xew England. Here 
and tliei-e are woods of oak and chestnut, with alluring walks and bridle- 
paths, and roads inter.secting each other in every liirection, like Indian 
trails or cow-paths, as they doubtless once were; so that the saying 
came about that every farmer had a road of his own to Hartford. 
With all this natural itcautv the little town seems fitlv named. And 



30 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

now, since it wisely chose to accept the Connecticut Western Railroad, 
which Farming-ton rejected, the number of its admirers must have greatly 
increased. By this means the Tower in Avon, lying only four miles 
from the railroad station, has been Ijrought within easy distance for 
excursionists from Hartford. Not far from the Tower are two moun- 
tain points, — one to the north and one to the east, both in Bloomfield, 
— called Big Philip and Little Philip. A tradition that on the latter 
of these King Philip was buried is still believed by many, and some 
have professed to be able even to locate the grave. 

In 1801, as recorded by the Rev. William Miller, wood and hay were 
the chief marketable productions ; " some hundreds of cords of wood 
being annually taken to Hartford market, and about two hundred tons 
of hay." He adds that "cyder, cyder-brandy, and apples are considered 
market articles ; and that fifteen hundred meat-casks, consisting of 
hogsheads, barrels, and tierces, were made and marketed in that year, 
[1801]." It is within the memory of a few still living, when corn was 
raised there to send to the West Indies. A great change has occurred 
in the last forty years in the productions of Bloomfield, — tobacco hav- 
ing largely taken the place of grass and grain in its fields. Although 
a crop involving continual risk and anxiety from its sowing to its 
selling, and requiring an immense amount of skill and care, its much 
larger profits have been the compensation. 

It is not known when the first settlements were made in this part of 
Windsor. A deed of an Indian purchase in 1660 mentions this section 
as " the wilderness." It is reported that at the period of the first settle- 
ment on the river an expedition sent hither to explore returned with 
the report that " there was good land sufiicient for the maintenance of 
three families." In 1738 there were sixty-five families in Wintonlniry, 
numbering three hundred and fifty souls. So it may be sujjposed that 
there were some settlers here as early as 1675. There was probably a 
period of fifty or sixty years during which Windsor was the political, 
religious, and social centre of this little colony of Messenger's Farms. 
It was a long way to go to church across the plains and through the 
thick pine woods, before the days of carriages, and very diflicult in 
winter, with the snow often three and four feet deep lying on the ground 
from No\eml)er to March. There is a tradition of the time when 
Wintonbury families must go the whole way to Windsor, six miles, even 
to " get fire," when they were so unfortunate as to be out of it in those 
days before friction matches. A native of the west part of Bloomfield 
remembers her grandfather pointing out to her an apple-tree that he 
had seen his father lu-ing on his back all the way from Windsor. 

This zealous little people came at last to feel that they must have 
some life of their own, and in May, 1734, "Peter Mills and [twenty- 
six] others, inhabitants of the southwest part of Windsor, known by the 
name of Messenger's Farms," petitioned for " winter privileges." They 
were granted liberty to conduct a separate worship from November to 
March. It went hard with the old town, however, to lose their pecu- 
niary assistance in church matters, and they won their cause in the face 
of much opposition. Two years more made their independence com- 
plete, when the thirty -one persons in Windsor, twelve in Simsbury, and 
eight in Farmington received, in answer to their jjetition for " parish 



BLOOMKIELD. 31 

privilcnjes," a grant of a parish set olY from these three towns. It was 
about four miles square, and its name was taken, according to Connecti- 
cut custom, from the towns from which it was composed, — a fragment 
of eacli, Win-ton-liury. 

At tlie first society meeting, Nov. 16, 1736, it was imanimously voted 
to buikl a meeting-house autl settle a jireaclier. 
The Rev. Hczekiah Bissell, who was ordained in Of . *. J7*Jfj/L 
February, 1738, so well justilied their choice that .?^^- f^^**^ 
his rare excellence of character should be recorded 
here; and it could not be done more forcii)ly than in the simple words 
on his monument in the old graveyard : — 

" Sacred to the Memory of tlie Revcreuil Hezekiah BisselL Hia birth was at 
Windsor, of pious ami reputablo Parents. Yale College was the place of his 
Liberal Accoiiiplishmeiits, and tiie Scene of his usefulness was extended. He 
was alike unmoved by all the Vices and Errors of the late Times; Secure against 
botli, his doctrines & his Life were Exemplary. Remarkable Peace and good 
order tliat reigned among the People of his Charge During his Ministry bear 
Witness to the Prudence and Greatness of his Mind. In domestic connections 
lie was truly a Consort & a Father, and in Social Life a Friend indeed, .\fter 
the faithful Labore of 4.5 years in Sacred Offices, his last and best Daye arrived, 
which was January 28th, a. d. 1783, a3tat. 72." 

The simplicity and liberality of his religions teachings are well illus- 
trated by the fact that baptism was allowed to the children of those 
who were not "church members," as that term is used, by means of the 
"half-way covenant," which "admitted all baptized people of civil be 
havior to the watcli of the chureii, and to the privilege of presenting 
their children for baptism without attending the Lord's Supper;" and 
by the lack of requirement of any creed in joining the church, this brief 
and tender covenant — probably of his own composing — being used 
instead : — 

" We do solemnly avouch the Eternal Fatlu'r, Son, and Holy Uhost to be our 
God, and do devote and dedicate oui-selves and children to Him, promising, as 
He shall enable us by His Grace, to believe His truths, obey His will, run the 
race of His commandments, walking before Him and being upright, e.xercising 
ourselves in y" duties of Sobriety, Justice, & Charity, watching over one an- 
other in the Lord ; and because Christ hath appointed spiritual administration in 
his home, as censures for ort'euders, consolations for the penitent, Teachings and 
Quickenings for all, such as the Word and Sacraments, we will truly couuteuanco 
and faithfully submit to the regular administration of them in this place, and 
carefully perform our respective and enjoyned duties that we may all bo saved in 
the daye of the Lord." 

The meeting-house was a plain, barn-liko structure, forty-five by 
thirty-five feet, unpainted. witli no steeple or the slightest mark to 
distinguish it as a church. Swallows made their homes in the rafters, 
and squirrels so abounded that it soon became necessary for the safety 
of the pulpit cushions to keej) them over at the tavern between Sundays. 
A hewn log lay along the middle aisle for the little children, who gen- 
erally came barefoot in the sunnner-time ; and from this they would 
rise reverentially and "make their manners" as the mini.ster walkotl 
among them to the pulpit. The pews, straight-backed and high, were 



32 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

annually assigned to the attendants according to their age and rank. 
In the gallery there was a high pew set apart for colored persons. The 
traditional tithing-man, from his post in the singers' seat, kept watch 
over the demeanor of old and young, and not seldom some playful or 
weary urchin was rapped at with his long stick, or pointed out to notice, 
or even treated with harsher measures. All the men sat on one side 
of the church, and all the women on the other. East of the church a 
great horse-block of hewn logs stood ready to receive from their saddles 
and pillions those who had come mounted. 

To this simple worshipping-place in the woods, called by no bell, nor 
even drum-beat as in Windsor, the people came, — only about sixty 
families of them to begin with, — on foot or on horseback, from their 
equally simple homes. And the shepherd of this little flock received 
for salary three hundred dollars and thirty-eight cords of wood. In 
the latter years of Mr. Bissell's ministry several members of his church 
went over to the Sei)arates, sometimes called Separatists, a sect that 
dated from the Revival of 1740, and had already made considerable 
headway in Connecticut. What had gained proselytes to this sect in 
Bloomfield more than anything else, it is said, was a quarrel between 
Abel Gillet, a deacon of the church, and John Hubbard. This happened 
about 1760. Mr. Bissell, being a peaceable man, refused to take either 
side ; and this, construed by Al)el Gillet to show favor to his opponent, 
so angered him that he withdrew from the church and " turned sepa- 
rate." They were presently called Separatists, and subsequently many 
of them became Baptists. " As this sect derived its first strength in 
this society from a quarrel in a family of some note, so they have, from 
that day to this," bemoans the good Parson Miller, in 1801, " always 
gained proselytes, more or less, as a spirit of contention has revived 
or subsided." He admits a small number to have been conscientious 
Baptists. 

They are first noticed in the public votes of the society in 1782, 
and in 1786 settled over their society Ashbel Gillet, a son of the 
above-named Abel. They steadily increased in number, and in 1795 
built a small meeting-house, since repeatedly repaired. Elder Gillet 
was considered one of the best of men, even by those outside of his 
church. His prayers were believed to have special power with the 
Most High, so that he was much sent for to pray by the sick ; and if 
rain was needed, especially during haying-season, the remark would be 
made that there was no use praying for rain until the parson's hay was 
in. Sometimes the people would turn out and help him when there 
was an unusual drought, and then send iqi their prayers. It is told that 
ho once found a sheep astray after shearing, and likely to perish ; he 
took off his overcoat, wrapped it about the shivering creature, and went 
to find its owner. And another story of him has come down, — how Par- 
son Miller, who had often ridiculed the Baptists for their mode of baptism, 
at last, during a period of partial insanity shortly before his death, left 
his home on Whirlwind Hill one winter night, and made his way, with 
bare feet, through the sharp crust, to Elder Gillet's window, a mile 
and a half away ; of course the good man arose and took him in and 
devoted the rest of the night to warming and comforting him. 

This Mr. Miller, a man of strong powers of mind and ardent piety, 
as well as of noble countenance and bearing, was the third pastor of 



ISLOOMFIKLn. 33 

the Congrcjrational ("luuch, ;iii(l he siiccrodod in rostorinjr tli<; liarmonv 
broken l>y disauropnii'ul on the clmico of his predecessor, and liv dis- 
satisfaction witli the Half-way Covenant. It was diirinjr his pastorate 
tliat a new nicctin;.;-liouse was huilt. The first one must have been 
sadly dilapidated and tlie |)eople slow to realize it; foi- the Sinisbury 
preacher, Mr. Stebbins, "a man intellij^eut, shrewd, and .sarcastic," was 
sent for to stir them up on the subject. His text was, "Surely the 
fear of God is not in this place ;" and this was one sentence in his dis- 
course : " When you pass thronjrh a villai-e, and see the clapboards on 
the meetiuLr-house luiniiiuu' ilinule-dauiile by one nail, you may be sure 
the love of (Tod is not in that people." 

The new ehnrcli was dedicated Dec. U, 1801. "A joyous day," said 
the happy i)astor in his sermon, — •' not a pew empty, above or below." 

Duriufi the summer, while the new chuich was buildinjr, the Sun- 
day services had been held undei' a ja'i'oup of four li'reat oaks close by, 
one of which still stands by the 

third and present house, dedicatcvl ^ /O JIfc / 

in 1858. Mr. Georjr,. B. X,.„-eomb, '^<' - /<^' ^' <^<>^<=-CA.-i'^ • 
now a professor in the C"ollc<;e of 

the City of New York, was the pastor of this church for five years, 
between IHtll and 18(i(i, — a preacher of frreat ability. 

A Jh'tliodist society was organized in 1817, its (irst class cousi.sting 
of only three persons; but it grew to a tolerable number, and si.xteen 
years later built a church on the top of AVliirlwinii Hill, which in 
1854 was rebuilt in the centre of the town. 

An Episcopal society, growing out of controversies in the ."-^inisburv 
Congr(>gatioual Chuich, was formed in 1740, and built a small. ]ilain 
churcli in ."Scotland, — a part of Simsbury tiuit was anne.xeil to Bloom- 
field in 1843. A new church was built in 180(i, two miles south of the 
first; but this was afterward taken down and removed to the old site,, 
where it was rebuilt in ISoO, and is the present climcli. 

The pul)lic schools of the jiarisli were for a long time under the care 
and control of the Iv'clesiastical ."Society. Great defereni.-e was jiaid 
to the periodical visits of the jjarish pastors. When they entered the 
school-room, all Ww scholars were compelled to rise and nuike obeisance. 
And here also should be mentioned other regular visits remembered 
by an old resident as "such stimulants to our pride and ambition," 
but in these days too rare, — visits of the fathers and mothers. Ihit 
little was taught in the country .schools in the early days ; it is some- 
times summed \\\t as " the three R"s." But the reading, 'riting. and 
'rithmetic, with the never-omitted s])clling, and, for the girls, sewing 
on sheets, shii'ts, and often l)ed(|uilts. were taught with a thorouiilmess 
that laid a good foundation lor the sul)stantial educatiiui of many a 
youth and maiden. 

The teaching of the little children, in the early part of this cen- 
tury, began with a .series of (piesfions as to their names and those of 
their parents, their age, what town they lived in, what jiarisli, what 
county, what State, and what country : the name of each pastor of their 
town, the Governor of their State, and the President of the Tnited 
States. Great attention was given to spelling; and one of the excite- 
ments of those days was the strife in the evening sjielling-schools. 

VOL. n. — 3. 



34 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

The society was divided into seven school-districts, in which were 
built, in or near the year 1800, five school-houses, two of which were 
quite large and convenient. " One of these two," says Mr. Miller, " is 
an elegant bricl^ building, and both arc jirovidcd with a good bell." 
The upper story of the old school-liouse on Whirlwind Hill was an- 
ciently used as a Freemasons' lodge, but was abandoned full seventy-five 
years ago ; when tlie outer stairway leading to it was removed, it be- 
came thenceforth a habitation for rats, bats, and owls. Early in the 
century this school had a remarkable teacher, Mr. Lucas, who roused the 
greatest enthusiasm in his pupils, and who closed his one winter with a 
brilliant exhibition in the church of the play of Pizarro, " Priest " Miller 
reluctantly consenting. The schools were generally kept by male in- 
structoi's in winter and by female in summer. One of the teachers — 
an old gray-haired man, and college-bred, which was a rare thing in 
those days — had the liabit of getting his queue done over during " noon 
spell " by one of the girls of his "fore class." An interesting old lady, 
Mrs. Wealthy Gillet Latimer Thrall, who lived all of her neaily one hun- 
dred years in Bloomfield, used to tell her grandchildren how frightened 
she was the morning she was promoted to this class, when the mas- 
ter rapped with his ruler on the desk, and announced before the 
school that henceforth she was to take her turn at that august task. 
Her fingers trembled so that she could scarcely tie the black ribbon, as 
she stood behind the master, sitting by the big, open fire, keeping order 
during " noon-spell." This same little girl had such a good memory 
for grammar, — all the grammar they had in those days was in the 
"forepart" of the spelling-book, — .that her teacher delighted in taking 
her about the streets and into the houses, of evenings, to show off ; 
when her listeners would exclaim, " What a pity she is n't a boy ! " In 
her last days, after her strong mind had begun to give way, in wander- 
ing back to childhood she would repeat sentence after sentence from 
those old spelling-book pages. After she was grown and married, she 
and her husband kept Thrall Tavern, in the Old Farms district, for 
forty years, and in her old age she never wearied of telling how they 
once entertained Lafayette at dinner with a hundred otlier guests ; 
delighting lier eager grandchildren with all the particulars as to looks 
and dress and bill of fare. Her husband had the first chaise ever used 
in llloomficld. 

When the Revolutionary War broke out, nearly every man in the 
town was drafted; and this brave woman — then a young girl — was 
left by her father and lover, so that when one night her little brother 
died, taken suddenly with the disease then called hoarse canker, she 
and a very old man together made the coffin, — "rough, but lined with 
something soft," she said, — and with her own hands she dug the grave. 
The niglit before he died, as she was going up-stairs she " saw a vision 
in the window, and knew that something was about to lia]ipen." 

A great many years ago two brothers named Brown made drums, 
including small ones for toys ; and once tin-ware was made in Bloom- 
field by Captain Filley, and sent by pedlers into Vermont. There 
were two sash-and-blind factories, short-lived, and an oil-mill, now 
gone to pieces. The making of wagons and carriages has for some 
time been an important industry of Bloomfield. 



BLOOMFIELD. 35 

Amonir the Wintoiiljiirv records are instances of slavery. One reads 
of 1754, •' Died Fortune, a negro servant, wlio belonged to John Hub- 
bard, Jr., and but a little before his death was Jon" ►^uiith'.s." The Rev. 
Mr. Bissell records the baptism of Cicsar, " a negro servant of mine," 
in 1772. There were a few more, probably not a dozen in all, and their 
bondage must have been of the lightest type. 

In the early days Indians often went roving through the town, sell- 
ing their l)askets and other usual wares, and in the very early times 
they made their home there, generally harmless and peaceably dis- 
posed. Traces of an Indian reservati(jn still exist in the Old Farms dis- 
trict. A native of Bloomlield remembers how a family of ilohegans 
used to come and settle down to their basket-making by Old Farms 
Brook, under the hill, on his lather's farm. They would say to the 
little boys that all the land belonged to them, and they could get their 
basket-stutf wherever they liked. This was as late as 1820; and, as 
they fished in the stream where ninny kinds of excellent fish still 
abounded, they would tell how in the days of their fathers the salmon 
and lamprey-eels used to run up there from tlic Connecticut. 

The old graveyard has the usual interest of bearing some curious 
epitaphs, and of testifying, by the manifold Scripture names recorded 
on its moss-grown and weather-worn stones, to the Bible-loving spirit 
of our ancestors. A small clearing was made in the beginning in the 
north end of the forest, which continued back a long way from the 
original church ; and there, in what is now the extreme north corner 
of the large yard, a low, brown stone tells how soon sorrow came into 
the little parish. 

" Here lies ye 

Body of Luce the 

Daugh'' of Serg"' 

Isaac Skinner who 

Died Fob'y ye 23"* 

1739-40 aged 18 year 

this was ye first Perso" 

that was Buried Hero." 

New England retained for many years the custom of putting both 
the years to a date from January ist to March 2oth, after which only 
the current year was wiitten. 

" When I was youug I did die, 
Why not you as well as I ? " 

What, for startling brevity, could eijual this ? And this, for biographi- 
cal conciseness ? — 

"Si.vteen years I lived a maid, 

Two yeai-s I w.is a wifi". 
Five liouvs I was a mother. 

And so I lost my life. 
My babe lies by nu', as you sec, 
To show no age from Doatli is fi-ee." 

Deidamia, Mahala, Lodesca, Lovicy, and Climena are a few of the 
quaint feminine names; and Reuel, Abi, Amaziah, Zemiah, and Defer, 
some of the masculine. 

A rather showy monument among the simple stones, standing near 
the highway, marks the grave of Felatiah Allen, who. dying youug and 



36 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

leaving no near heirs, bequeathed bis property as ajjpears from the 
following inscription on his monument : — 

"This monument to the memory of Pelatiah Allen, who died Feb. 5th, 1821, 
in the twenty -fourth year of his age, was erected by the Congregational Society of 
Wintoubnry, of which he was a member. Mr. Allen early arrived at maturity in 
the powers" of his mind, and was possessed of more than ordinary energy and 
decision of character. lu the testamentary disposal of his estate good judgment 
and benevolence were happily united. After several legacies to individuals, he 
"ave £200 for foreign missions, £100 annually forever for the relief of the indus- 
trious poor of Wintonbury, £30 annually for tlie support of religious psalmody in 
the Congregational Society, and £200 to £270 annually forever for the su]iport 
of the gospel in the same society." 

The whole property of his father had fallen to him in rather a singular 
manner. He was the only son by a second maii'iage which was so 
offensive to the children of the first, that they in turn offended their 
father, and were turned off, each and all, without a shilling. 

The state and town poor-house was kept for many years early in 
the century by Captain David AV. Grant, who found it lucrative, and 

^ left a haiidsonio property to his only son, 

(3^ CJL^ fei-tsJ^^lT'""""* Wadswortli, who built the house of rough 

^^ r^ i« r.iiif- "■ " ^ ^S ^ stone in the western part of the town, 

and was one of Bloomlield's most liberal- 
minded citizens as long as he lived. 

Hiram Roberts, belonging to one of the oldest families in the place, 
which settled there before 1700, was for many years the merchant of 
the town and a lead- 
ing citizen, and was 
twice sent to tlie 
State Legislature. 
He was a man of un- 
usual judgment and integrity ; and when he died, at only forty-eight 
years of age, he was widely mourned. 

Some others of the leading men of the place — several of them cap- 
tains in the War of 1812, some of them representatives of the town in the 
State Legislature, and nearly all substantial farmers who died at a good 
old age — were: Elihu Mills, who is remembered as never having failed 
to be in his seat at church twenty minutes too early, and wdio was the 
last man to give up the custom of standing during prayer ; Elijah Oris- 
wold, a noted singing-master, and one of the two publishers of an 
early singing-book, " Connecticut Harmony" (printed about 1800), the 
engraved copper-plates and little press for which are still in existence ; 
the three Bidwell brothers, the Hitchcocks and Browns, and ca]itains 
Lord, Goodwin, Filley, Loomis, and Rowley. Tiie last named outlived 
all the rest of the old soldiers. These ca]itains drilled the old militia 
company, which mustered from one hundred and twenty to one hundred 
and fifty men, and was disbanded just long enn'<(i;h before our Civil War 
for it to find only raw recruits ; but of these Bloomfield sent her share. 
The wliole number who went to the war was one hundred and ninety- 
two, and this was thirteen above her quota. 

Another name to be remembered in connection with this town is 
that of Francis Gillette, the son of Elder Ashbel Gillet. The son was 
led to change the spelling of his name by a request received when in 




^/T^iZ^e^ ^^^^^^zfer^ 



BLOONri'IELD. ;J7 

college iVoni ;i distant relative, who had ascertaiix-d the urij^iiial spell- 
ing of the name, which is French. His Bloomlield life was interrupted 
for scveial years bv the death of his father when he was onlv six 
years old. His mother, at her second marriage, two or three years 
after, removed the family to Aslihekl, Mass. There, in the face of 
many obstacles, he fitted 
himself lor Yale College. 
After graduating (1820), 
and being thwarted by 
weak lungs in his at- 
tempt to study law, he took np life again in his first home as a farmer, 
and in 1834 built his house of unhewn stone brought from the near 
mou7itain-side. It is still a striking feature of the town, set far back 
from the street, and entered from two directions through winding 
avenues of trees. 

This is the west half of his father's farm, of two hundred acres or 
more, lying a mile and a half from the Centre, on the Hartford road. 
Here for eighteen years he lived, his health entirely re-established by 
much out-of-door life, and his mind deeply devoted to the interests of 
Bloomfield. At the incorporation of the town he suggested the new 
name, which was at once adopted. He did all that l;iy in his power for 
its educational improvement, bringing about the building of the neat 
brick school-house in his district in the place of the ancient little 
wooden one in tlie hollow, with its knife-hacked desks and awkward 
benches, where he had learned his first lessons. More than once when 
in his possession the old stone house welcomed and gave shelter for 
a night to the Hying slave, whose stories and songs, as he warmed and 
cheered himself by the fire, made a lifelong impression u))on liis young 
listeners. Mr. Gillette's earnest advocacy of the Antislavery cause 
showed itself first in a fearless speech on striking the word "white" 
from the State Constitution. This was in the legislature, where he liad 
been sent by Bloomlield in 1838. He had Ijecn sent there once iiefore, 
in 1832, at the age of twenty-four, iiy Windsor, before Wintonbury had 
become an incor|)orated town. \\\ 1841, against his will, he was nomi- 
nated for governor by the Liberty party ; and during the ne.xt twelve 
years the Ijiberty and Free-Soil parties freqnently repeated the nomi- 
nation. In 18')4 he was elected United States Senator for the renuiin- 
der of the term of the Hon. Trinnan Smith, who had resigned. Mr. 
Gillette's election was just in time for him to cast his vote against the 
Nebraska Bill, which was ])assed at midnight of the day of his arrival 
in Washington. He was also active all his life in the cause of temper- 
ance and in the ])romotion of education. Hartford had lieen his home 
for thirty years, when he died there, on the 30th of September, 187y, 
at the age of seventy-two. He was liuried in Farmington. 

Of other natives of Blomufielil who have recently died, a most ex- 
cellent and widely loved man was .lay Filley. a son of Captain Oliver 
Filley. He spent his last years in Hartford. Other sons took more or 
less prominent positions in tiu' West, one of them having l)een mayor 
of St. Louis. 

Samuel R. Wells, the well-known phrenologist, lecturer, and author, 
was born in Bloomlield. 



38 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Of those still living, James G. Batterson is one of the leading citi- 
zens of Hartford and a prominent business man of New England, the 
head of the New England Granite Company, president of the Travellers' 
Insurance Company, and one of the pioneers of Accident Insurance in 
the United States, — a man of great energy and public spirit. 

Lester A. Roberts, a man of unusually wide intelligence and some 
literary note, is now a resident of Brooklyn, but still makes Bloomfield 
liis summer home. 

The population of the town, by the census of 1880, was 1,346. 



SLl^Ml ^ ^hu^^cer-^ 



IV. 

BRISTOL. 

BY EPAPHRODITUS PECK. 

TITE town of Bristol lies in the soiithwostorn part of Hartford 
Counly, touching- Litclilicld County on the west nnd Xew Haven 
on tlic sout invest ; it is l)oundo(l north by l>urlington,cast i)y Farm- 
ington and Plainville, south iiy Southiugton and Wolcott, west hy Plym- 
outh. From 1800, when the Burlington parish was set off from this 
town, till 1875, wlien its symmetry was destroyed by the annexation to 
its territory of a single farm, formerly a part of Southington, it was 
exactly five miles s(|uare. In surface hilly, in soil rocky and someAvhat 
unfertile, it has of necessity become a manufacturing rather than a 
farming town. With Fall Mountain for its southern boundary, Chiiv 
pins (modernized form of Cochipianee's) Hill on tlie northwest, and 
Federal Hill occupying ail the centre, there is left but a narrow valley, 
sloping down from the iiigher hiiul in Terryville to the eastward 
plains. Through this runs the Pcrpialjuck River, furnishing power 
for most of the larger factories. On the plains, at the cast side of 
the town, lies the village of Forestvillc, which has come to furnish an 
important part both of the population and of the business of the 
town. 

The history of the town began with its settlement by white people 
in 1727. To the Indians, as to the early settlers of Farmington, it had 
l)een the (ireat Forest, — too thickly covered with woods, and too valua- 
ble as a hunting-ground, to become a place of residence. It is jn'obable 
that no considerable number of Indians ever lived within the present 
limits of the town. They inhabited the more level regions to the cast- 
ward, and came hither for their supplies of game anil fish. The rich- 
ness of these woods in game, large and small, was very soon discovered 
by the settlers in Farmington, and " there are men now living," wrote 
Dr. Noah Porter in 1841, '• who remember when venison was sold in 
our streets at twopence the pound." 

The earliest mention of any ownership of the land now included in 
this town is on the Farmington records of Uiiio ; and then |)robably 
for the first time had the peo|)lc of that town become so numerous 
as to extend their farms to the border of the Great Forest. 

" Att a towne meeting held att iTarmiugton, their was griiuntcd to .John Wnds- 
worth, Richard Hnini|ison, and Thomas barns, Moosis Vcntruss, fl'orty acora of 
nicddow Land Lyini; att the place \vc conmionly Call Pulanil, beginning att the 
Brook att the hitiiorend of it and so n|) the lliucr on l)oth sides ; wliicli was 
giiien upon Consideration of thirty acora that was taki-n out n{ their farm at 
Paquabuck." 



40 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Tliis district of Poland was jii-obably in the northeastern part of the 
present town of Bristol, and this record indicates a much greater an- 
tiquity to the name of Poland than has been generally ascribed to it. 
Popular tradition has supposed that the name, which now belongs to 
a little stream, Poland Brook, in East Bristol, was derived from the 
name of an Indian who lived upon its bank sixty years later than the 
date of this record. It maybe sujiposed that " their farm at Paqua- 
buck " lay within the present town of Plainville ; with the lapse oi 
time the name has been moved seven miles toward the west. 

" Jeuewary, 1664, their was giueii to John Langton and Georg Gruis twenty 
acors a piece at poland, after John Wadsworth haue taken out liis forty acors, 
if it be Not their to be had to Looke out other Wheer they may find it, and so 
to Repay er the town for the grauut of it.'' 

Evidently the " meddow land " at Poland was not very abundant, if 
there was danger of its Ijeing exhausted by the apiiropriation of " fforty 
acors." For many years after this the people of Farmington extended 
their farms in other directions, and the Great Forest was undisturbed 
except by the hunters, who found in it still an inexhaustible supply 
of game. 

In 1721 the eighty-four original proprietors of Farmington made 
partition among themselves of the undivided lands lying to the west 
of their settlements. The land was surveyed into six divisions, each a 
mile wide and live miles long, running from north to south. The last 
five of these divisions constitute the present limits of Bristol. For 
six years more no settlements were made ; but in 1727, by a deed 
bearing date November 22, Daniel Bi'ownson, of Farmington, bought a 
farm lyiilg near the present corner of West and 8outh streets, known 
as Goose Corner; and there, in the same year, the first house was built. 
This house has not been standing for many years. 

The next year, 1728, Ebenezcr Barnes, from Farmington, and Nehe- 
miah Manross, from Lebanon, bought lands, built houses, and moved 
liither their families. Mr. Barnes's house 
has never been removed, and now forms the 
centi-al part of Julius E. Pierce's residence 
in East Bristol ; this was undoubtedly the 
earliest house of which any part now remains. Mr. Barnes's descend- 
ants have always remained here, and have been among our best-known 
families. Mr. Manross's house stood a short distance south of the pires- 
ent dwelling-house 
of Norr 
and 

destroyed. Captain 
Newton Manross, whose death at Antietam was so much lamented, was 
one of his descendants, and others still reside here. It is probable that 
a house was built on the east Fall Mountain road in this year (1728) 
by Abner Matthews, a little south of the one now occupied by Munson 
Wilcox. This house was afterward bought by Elias Wilcox, but for 
many years no part of it has been standing. In 1729 Nathaniel Mes- 
senger, from Hartford, and Benjamin Buck, from Farmington, built 
houses near Nchcmiah Manross, — Messenger on the east side of the 
road and Buck farther north, near the site of J. C. Kurd's present 



^t^^Qji' Sa^^s- 



dwelling-house 

war'long'ago Q/^AfjUm^ O^f}^ '^jlfL/fU^O^^ 
troyed. Captain ^ 



BRISTOL. 43 

residence. Neither of their houses is now stnndinjr, nor do any of 
their descendants reuiain in Bristol. The next year John Brown, from 
Colchester, boujxlit land and Ijiiilt a house north of Ebenezer Barnes, 
on the east side of tiic road. The land bought by Mr. Brown included 
the site of the Bristi)! 
Brass and Cloclv ("oni- 





panv's rollinir-miil, and •'>^<^/a.^ y^ ^,^-x- "^ 

the "house he tlien built ^C'^ '^ <2^::^|^^^i<=^J?;'^__^ 

remained till 187f>. when ^ ^ ^^^ 

it was pulled down, it 

is not known that anv other settlers came here till 1736, when Moses 
Lyman, of Wallin-rford. bought land and built a residence on Fall 
Mountain, on tlie phu'c now occupied l)V A. ('. P.uiley. 

In 1788, or thereabout, Kbene/.cr Ilamijlin, uf Barnstable, Mass., built 
a house on the road to Farmington, near Poland Brook, farther to the 
east than any house had vet been built. The cellar-place may still be 
seen. Three vears later" lie built another house, between Nehemiah 
Manross and Benjamin Buck. This man was somewhat prominent 
amonsr the early settlers, but has left no descendants in town, and no 
part of cither of his houses is standing. 

Two Gaylord families came to Bristol in 1741 or 1742. Joseph 

Gaylord settled on Chippins 
mil on the place which has 
been owned by his descend- 
ants until lately ; and David 
Gaylord, afterward one of 
the fu'-st deacons, built a 
house on the lot where Henry A. Pond now lives, on East Street, near 
the railroad. 

Benjamin Hungerford, who, through his daughter, was an ancestor 
of another Gaylord family of Bristol, settled upon Fall ^lountaiu, 
near the site of Hiram Gillis's 

house, in 1746. About 1747, "y ^jf / >0 « >.L 

Zebulon Peck, from whom most of A^^^»^Acrn y c (-f^ 
those here bearing that name are 

descended, built a house near Daniel Brownson, and nearly back of 
G. S. Hull's present tenement house, and very soon began to keep a 

tavern there. Ben- 
fj jamin Brooks, Ger- 

f^^^J'n'Uypi^ '^^'^^H^^^jeL. Caleb Matthews set- 

^ •-'--» tlj,,j ,),j Chipping 

<f Hill at about the 

same time as Josc])h Gaylord, and that corner of the parish played 
for many years quite an important part in local history. 

The men whose names and the dates of whose settlement arc still 
preserved were probably the more jirominent of the inhabitants, but 
others before this date had come hither, and had erected houses, of 
which nothing is now known. Several houses were l)uilt very early, 
perhaps before the middle of the centm-y, on the road which runs cast 
from N. P. Buell's house. An early settlement was also made in what 
is called the Stafford District, and houses still standing there show 



44 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

great age in their materials and workmanship. The houses in the 
eastern and central part of the town were framed, built with the mas- 
sive timbers of that age. Log houses were built on Fall Mountain, and 
it is said that when the heavy doors were open during the day tlie 
women used to pin up blankets across the doorway, that it might not 
be entirely open to the bears and the Indians. It was still not an 
uncommon event for the more isolated families to see bears })rowling 
about near their iiouses; and so late as 1750 a huge bear was killed 
near her father's liouse by Abigail Peck, a sturdy girl of fourteen, who 
had been left at home from meeting by her parents. 

The Indians, who had found these woods a fruitful hunting-ground 
for many generations, were greatly enraged at the white men, who had 
driven away their game and were levelling the forest ; and the set- 
tlers whose houses were remote from neighbors were in constant fear 
of injury from the savages. Crideon Ives, of Middletown, was on a 
hunting-tour on Fall Mountain at one time with a Mr. Gaylord, when 
they discovered an Indian trying to shoot them. They separated, and 
the Indian, following Mr. Gaylord, was shot by Mr. Ives. The two 
men buried his body, not daring even to keep the valuable weapons 
which he wore. Tlie locality was named from this Indian, and is still 
called Morgan's Swamp. Early in the history of the town a Mr. Scott, 
who had begun to clear a piece of land on Fall Mountain, intending 
to move hither from Farniington, was seized by a party of Indians and 
horribly tortured. His screams were heard a long way ; but the In- 
dians were so many that no one dared to go to the rescue, and a consid- 
erable number of tlic settlers, fearing an attack from the infuriated 
Indians, hid themselves all day in the bushes near the river. 

These early families were all Congregationalists. Every Sunday a 
little procession went through the woods eight miles to the* old church 
at Farmington. A few families had two-horse carts, in which all rode 
together : but more often tlie father rode on horseback and the mother 
behind him on a pillion, while the young people walked, taking great 
care not to break the Sabbath by any undue levity. 

In 1742 the hamlet had become so numerous that the jjeople felt 
able to maintain preaching for themselves during a part of the year ; 
and in October of that year a memorial was presented to the General 
Assembly reciting the distance from the place where " publick Worship 
of God is sett up," and asking the " Liberty of hireing an Authordox 
and suitably quallifyed person to preach y" Gospel " for six niontiis of 
each year. This petition was gi-anted, and the desired jwrmission was 
given. The first meeting of the inhabitants was held Nov. 8, 1742, 
to organize, and take necessary action in compliance with the Assem- 
bly's resolution. This meeting voted to have preaching, so long as 
the Court had given them liberty, and to hold the meetings at John 
Brown's house. Edward Gaylord, Nehemiah Manross, and Ebenezer 
Hamblin were elected the society's committee. 

At a meeting a month later tliey voted to hire Mr. Thomas Canfield 
to preach during thd winter. This clergyman, the first to preach the 
gospel in this town, was born in 1720, graduated at Yale College in 
1739, was settled at Roxbury in 1744, and died there in 1794. He 
preached here only one winter; the next fall (1743) the society 



BRISTOL 45 

empowered the committee to choose ii prcaclicr for the comiii};; winter, 
ami it is not icnown who was hired. •Tiiis same fall of 174:3 the peoph; 
began to consider the siiliject of asi<inir for incorporation as a rcgnhir 
eccU^siastical society, and appointed a coniniitire to seei< an act of incor- 
poration from the (leneral Asscml)ly. In 1744 the consent of the hr.st 
society in Farniinirton was obtained, and another petition was scid to 
the Assembly with the same reipiest. 

Amonjr the signatures to tins petition are several which did not 
appear on the former one; those which probaidy denote the settlement 
in the parish of new families are Ilezekiah Rew, 
Joseph (Jraves, Calel) Abernethv, E/.ekiel I'alincr, tfj ^ 

Zcbidon Fris])e, Thomas Hart.' Of these, Heze- iT^Z: f/i^i^ 
kiah Rew, afterward on(> of the first deacons of 

the Congregational Chnrch. lived on the corner where Elias Ingraham's 
residence now stands. Caleli Abernethy, in 1742, l)uilt a house near 

Xehenuah Manross and Nathan- 
iel Messcuiier, on the south 



(^ Jf . lel Jlesscnger, on tnc souti 

•* / // It f J^ i corner, opposite N. P. Buell' 

^^'^^ AA^^^'^^f^ l"-csent house; Thomas Har 
^ ^^ was one of the first settler 

in Stafford District, so called. 
The General Assembly granted the petition, and gave the society the 
name of New Candjridgc. The first society meeting was holdcu June 4, 
1744, and at this meeting it was "Voted, 

That we would apply ourselues to the next ^--t^ . <ia--, ^ 

Assosiation for aduice in order to the bring- ^*^ VVUXj ^ctM^-^ 
ing in a ministei' amongst us as soon as Con- 

uenontly may be." Three days after this the society voted to apply to 
Mr. Joseph Adams as a candidate for settlement in the ministry. He 
graduated at Yale College in 1740, and died in 178:i. Apparently he 
was not acceptable to the people, for his name is not mentioned again. 

In September the society voted to invite Mr. Samuel Newell to 
preach with them until December 1. Mr. Newell was a stanch 
defender of the (.'alvinistic doctrines, and on this account he was 
strongly ojjposed i)y some of the society. In December of the same 
year a resolution to hire Mr. Newell, in case it should be the advice 
of the Association, received seven opposing votes, and the council wliicli 
was summoned advised tlie calling of some other minister, in liopes 
that the society ndght be more united. Accordingly, in 174() Messrs. 
Ichabod Camp and ChristO])her Newton, men whose doctrinal views 
agreed with those of the opposition to Mr. Newell, were successiveh' 
invited to preach. They ajijicar to have hail no better success: and in 
March, 1747, another call was given to Mr. Newell, subject to the advice 
of the council, the vote stamling thirty-six to ten. This council advised 
the settlement of Mr. Newell, anil he was ordained Aug. 12, 1747. 

" And here it must be noted," says the record, " that Caleb mathews, 
Stephen Brooks, John hikox, Caleb Al)ernathy, Aimer mathews, Abel 
Royce, Daniel Roe \- Simon tuttel publikly declared them.sclves of the 
Church of England and under the bishop of london." Nehendah Royce 
and Benjamin Brooks followed in a few moidhs, anil these ten men 
formed the first Episcojial society in New Cambridge. Abncr Matthews 
afterward returned to the Congregational Church, and again became 



46 MBMUIUAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

a leading member. These seceders were among tlie prominent men 
of the society, and their secession must have been a severe loss. 

The society contracted with Mr. 

^g, ^ ^^ Newell to pay him a sum grad- 

yi -/^'^^^^/'^'^ rA^r\7j»^ uallv increasing from ,£140 in 

C/^^-^^-^^ C/CC?^ 1-4^ ^„ ^300 in 1758, and there- 

after. This sum was to be paid in 
bills of credit of the colony or in grain, and the society agreed to 
make each year's salary " as good 

to him as 3 hundred ponnds is now." ^^i yV) /yVl ^ ( f^iZJ^i 
They also built him a house (the vj// /// v J [^ I '* V^*- 
old house now known as the " Dr. "^ 

Pardee place") and furnished him with llrewood. The extent to which 
our local currency had depreciated is shown by the fact that in 1759 a 
committee arbitration agreed on £55 a year in silver as a full equiva- 
lent for the <£300 salary due to Mi-. Newell in bills of credit. 

Hitherto the meetings had been held at private houses ; the houses 
of Ebenezer Barnes, John Brown, Stephen Barnes, Abner Matthews, 

and John Hickox having each been 
^*^ ^ fj used for that purpose. In May, 1745, 

OCt^p^^^ i/O^K^ the society voted by a more than 

two-thirds majority to build a meeting- 
house " as soon as with Convenience may be." In October, 1746, 
a committee of the General Assembly, which was at that time the 
general director of Congregational churches, selected a site about 
sixty feet northeast of the present church building, and drove there a 
stake to mark the centi-e of the building. Here the society " with all 
convenient speed " built the first meeting-house, forty feet by thirty. 
It was northeast of where the meeting-house now stands, and almost 
directly in the jiresent line of Maple Street. It was furnished with 
the great square pews then in vogue, the best one of wliieh ^vas re- 
served for the deacons and the jjoorest for the negroes. The church 
expenses were then paid by general taxation, and each year a committee 
assigned the pews among the members of the congregation according 
to their wealth. In order, however, to pay 
proper resjject to age and official rank, 
it was provided that every person should 
be allowed fifty shillings for each year of 
his age, and tliat a captain should be al- 
lowed in addition twenty pounds, a lieu- 
tenant ten, and an ensign five. This 
custom was called "dignifying the meet- 
ing-houso." It furnished a convenient 
official designation of the social status of 
the different persons and families of a deacon's cap. 

community. After the gallery was put into the meeting-house the 
negroes were directed to sit there ; and so when the theatres established 
their gallery regulations they were really borrowing an old rule of the 
church. The children were seated on benches in the aisles ; the old men 
in front, each one with a white starched ca|) upon his head. In 1752 it 
was voted that the men and women sit together in the pews ; seeming 
to indicate that the sexes had hitherto been separated. In 1763 it was 




BRISTOL. 



47 



voted that the younsi people should be seated in the ineetiiifr-hoiise (that 
is, in the ]iews instead of on lienelies), '• uienkind at sixteen years of 
a'je, and female at fourteen." When tiie elinreii was gatiiered for Ihi; 
fast ])reiiaratory to thi' ordination of I'ar.stni Newell, it included al)out 
twenty families. These, with the eij^ht or ten families who had de- 
clared themselves Episcopalians, proi)ai)ly constituteil almost or (|uite 
tlie entire population of the parish. Parson Newell is said to iiave been 
an able preaeher. His fame spread tlirough the ueif^hboriinr towns, 
and many families moved hither to listen to his preachinjr. He 
remained pastor of tiie church till his death in 1789. 

The second Coni:rei;ational mcetinji-housi; was completed in 1770, 
si.\ty-five feet liy fort\-live in size, nearly upon the site of the old one; 
and in 1831 the third building was erected, which, having been twice 
remodelled insidt-, is still in use. 

For some time after the withdrawal of the ten members to the Church 




yiT 






HOI'SK Hl'II.T BY ABKI, LEWIS.' 

of England they seem to have had un rector and no regidar place of 
meeting. They protested against tlie )iayMUMit of the ecclesiastical taxes, 
and in 174',l the society compromised witli them, the Churchnicu agree- 
ing to pay half their tax until they should have a ])astoi- of their own to 
support. Most of the Ciiurchmen, as they were called, li\ed on Chippins 
Hill, near the borders of Northbury (now Plymouth), and attended 
.service in that town. In 17")H th(\v hired >[r. .*^eovel to preach for them 
a part of the time. The charge of this clergyman included th(> parishes 
of Waterbury. Westbuiy (now Wati'rtown). Northbury. and New 
Cambridge: and in 17ti-2 his time was further ilivided by the addition 
of P'armington to his charge. A small Episcopal churdi buildin;: had 
been completed in 17;")4. opposite the Congregational meeting-honse, 

' The archeil wiiulow.s wi-ic tnkcii frniii tin- olil Kpisrop.ll Clmroli. 



48 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



north or northwest of the present First District school-house. In 
1774 Mr. Scovel was succeeded by the Rev. James Nichols, who acted 
as rector until the outbreak of the Revolution. The Episcopalians were 
nearly or quite all fierce Tories, and bitter liatred was felt towai'd 
them by their more loyal neighbors. The excitement was so great 
that attempts are said to have been made upon the life of the rector 
and of one at least of the laymen. Some of them went to New York, 
others stayed very quietly at home, and iniblic services were abandoned 
until 1783. Attempts were made in that year, but without success, to 
build a new church, and services were again held in the old building, 
Revs. James Nicliols, Samuel Andrews, James Scovel, and Ashbel Bald- 
win successively acting as rectors. In 1790 the Episcopalians of North- 
bury, Harwinton, and Bristol united, and built a house for worship 
which is still standing, known as Plymouth East Church, and for forty- 
four years no Episcopal services were held in Bristol. It has been a 



=— 5 INLAID CHEST BROUGHT TO NEW CAMBRIDGE, 1744-47. 

I> rOWDEK- 
1' BY LIEU- 
. CANTEEN 

:T-nousE. 




EELICS OF OLD TIMES. 



local tradition that the church property was confiscated as belona-ino; to 
the Bishop of London, and therefore forfeited by the war ; but this 'is a 
mistake. The church building and land were sold (after the removal of 
the church) to AIjcl Lewis, who used the building as a barn. The win- 
dows are still used in the tenement-house of Mrs.' Theodore Stearns. 

In the two wars which took place during the latter half of the cen- 
tury the people of New Cambridge took siich pai-t as their numbers 
allowed. At the outbreak of the French and Indian war of 1755 Parson 
Newell rigorously defended from tlie pulpit the claims of the British 



BRISTOL. 49 

Crown, and several of liis people entenvl his ifajesty's army. A militia 
company had already been Drgaiiizcd, of which Zehulou Peck was 
captain. He and his .son .Justus were among the New Candiridge 
memhers of the IJritish iirniy. These volunteers were stationed in the 
northern part of Vermont. 

At the outbreak of the Revolution a strong division e.xisted in the 
comniimity. Parson Newell supported the colonial cause, and his 
parishioners were strong Whigs. The Episcopalian settlers, on the 
other hand, were Tories, and meetings of the friends of King George 
throughout the State were often held secretly on ("hippins Mill. At 
one time the Whigs heartl that snch a meeting was to he held, and 
stationed sentinels on all the roads leading t() the rendezvous. One 
party of these sentries arrested a well-known Tory. C'hauncey .Jerome 
by name, and after a summary trial found him guilty of treason and 
sentenced Iiini to be hanged. They accordingly ijronght him down to 
the whipping-])ost, which stood across the roatl from the meeting-house, 
and hanged him to the l)ranches of a tree which stood by the post. It 
was now daylight, and the executioners rode away. A few minutes 
later an eai-ly traveller f(5und Jerome hanging nearly dead. I'tit the rope, 
and lirouglit him l)ack to consciousness. 

Another of the Tories. Moses Dmibar, was more regularly and com- 
pletely hanged. He was arrested in ITTti, charged with secretly enlist- 
ing soldiers for King fJeorge's army, tried by the .'^uiierior Court at 
Hartford, foimd guilty of treason, and hanged there March 19, 1777. 
The great majority of the society, however, were stanch Whigs, and 
a considerai)le number of men enlisted in the colonial army. It is 
impossible to tell how many, but it is said that neaily all the men of 
projier age either volunteered or were drafted. It is known that some 
of the New Cambridge soldiers w(>re with Washington on Long Island, 
during his retreat to New York and New Jersey, the attacks on Tren- 
ton and Princeton, and through the dreary winter at Valley Forge. 

No ste|)s toward the establishment of a se[iarate town organization 
are rec(u-ded till Dec. 24, 1784, when it was voted •• that we wish to 
be incorporated into a town in connection with West Britain." Com- 
mittees were appointeil to confer with the West Ih'itain society and with 
the town of Farmington. The town oppo.sed the separation: but. arrange- 
ments satisfactory to the two societies having been made, a petition was 
sent to the (Jeneral Assembly in May, 1785, praying for a .separate town 
organization. This petition states 

the grand list of the two societies ¥ jy y^ £^ • . 

at £17,218 17x. 2f7. VV^^V^^ ^^9 i^<^i^Z^n^ 

The reipiest was granted, 
act passed the same month incor- 
poratmg the town of Bristol. This name apjiears for the tirst time in 
the act of incorporation, and was apparently .selected by the Assemlily. 

The first town-meeting was 
held at the New Cami)ridge 
meeting-house, June I-"], 
17^0. .Joseph Hyington, 
Deacon Klisha Manross, 
Zebulon IVck, Fsi|., Simeon Hart, l"]s(]., and Zebulon Frisbie, Jr., were 
chosen the first board of selectmen; of these, Manross, Peek, and 

VOL. II. — 4. 



)n srares 

hand an ^ a/ ^ ^ 



"^^L^^'-^j-^ 



50 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Byington represented the New Cambridge society, and Frisbie and 
Hart, West Britain. Thereafter, town-meetings were held alternately 
in the two parishes, and the town oiheers were divided nearly equally 

between them. The union seems 

-Q f jf , never to have been very harmonious, 

ittiJ i^/X '^CCff^cf ^^^ ^'^ ^^^Yi 1806, the West Britain 

^ / (2/ parish was made a separate town by 

the name of Burlington. 
The year after the removal to East Church of the Episcopal society, 
another ecclesiastical body was organized, taking a part of its member- 
ship from this town. April 13, 1791, a small number of Baptist believers 
from Northbury, Farmingbury (now Wolcott), and Bristol, met in 
Northbury, at a house belonging to Edniond Todd, near the corner of 
the three towns, and organized tlie Second Watertown Baptist Church. 
This building is still standing, now an old barn. Meetings were held 
alternately in Northbury, Farmingbury, and Bristol. In 179-3 Elder 
Isaac Root became the pastor of this church ; it is not now known 
■whether or not they had any earlier pastor. At first the Northbury 
members were in a majority, afterward Wolcott and Bristol. In 1800 
the allotment of services, one half to be held in Bristol, one third in 
Wolcott, and one sixth in Plymouth, shows that the Bristol part of the 
church had become the strongest. About 1795 Elder Daniel Wildman 
began to act as pastor, and j — 

to his zealous labors the ^^ • . ^^1/^ 

prosperity and rapid growth ^^ ^S-^^'Z-o'^ ^^*^J^y\/UXyy^ 
of the early church were 

largely due. In 1798 the membership of the church was sixty-six, 
and in 1817 it was considerably over one hundred. In 1800 the 
erection of a meeting-house was determined upon, and the work was 
begun the following year. Tliis building was forty-two by thirty-two 
feet in size, and stood upon land which had been given to the society 
for that purpose by Elder Wildman. In 1830 a larger building upon 
the same site took its place. The old church became the case-shop of 
the Atkins Clock Company, and is still used for that purpose l)y its 
successors in business. This second building was used till 1880, when 
the society built the handsome brick church which they now use. 

At the beginning of this century the town of Bristol was a consid- 
erable farming hamlet. The population, by the census of 1800, was 
2,723. The New Cambridge society was a very little stronger than 
West Britain, and had probably a population of about fourteen hun- 
dred. Upon the hill stood the Congregational meeting-house confronted 
by a row of " Sabba'-day houses." Some of these were built about 
1754, and were still standing in the first decade of the century. Hither, 
at noon, went each family that lived at a distance from the meeting- 
house, to eat their lunch, replenish their foot-stoves, and indulge in 
such decorous conversation as was suited to the sacred day. Near 
these houses of public comfort stood the majesty of the law in the 
shape of stocks and whipping-post. The former of these was occa- 
sionally used, the latter almost never. In 1828 a negro boy was sen- 
tenced by a village justice to receive ten lashes on his bare back at this 
post, and the punishment was administered in presence of a large 



BRISTOL. 51 

crowd. This was certainly tiic last, and perliaps the first, use of the 
post. A mile distant, in the valley, stood the Baptist nicctinir-liouse, 
and between Elder Wildman and Parson ("owles the battle often wa.xed 
hot in discussion of tlie merits of baptism by sprinklinjr and of the 
necessity and expediency of infant baj)tism. 

New Cambridge, like every other New England ])arish, had very 
early sni)plied itself with schools. In 1754 liberty was given Ijy the 
Farmington town-meeting to build two school-houses in this parish, — 
one on the hill, near the site of the ]>i'escnt Roman Catholic parson- 
age, the other on Chippins Hill. Before this there had lieen a school, 
probably meeting at some private house. In December. 1747, the 
society voted that a lawful school should be kept, ami tin-ee months 
later it was "Voted. That we would have a school kept in this society 
six mouths ; namely, 3 mouths by a Master and 3 months Ijy a Dame." 
In 17(38 the parish was divided into five districts; and, not long after, 
school-honses were standing, one north of Parson NewcU's residence, 
one near the south graveyard, one on West Street not veiy far north 
from Goose Corner, one on Chipjnns Hill, and one in the northeastern 
part of the parish. Ilcro were taught tlic elementary branches of 
edueatiim, always including the 'Westminster Catechism : once a week 
Parson Newell called u]i(iii the school and examined the children in 
the Catechism. 

A few of the farms in town were cultivated by slave labor. The 
Jerome family, living in the northeastern part of the town, in the 
house still owned by their descendants, kept three slaves ; and one 
Isaac Shclton, who lived on Chippins Hill, near the west line of the 
town, owned a larger number. Their condition was certainly a very 
mild form of bondage. The negroes went to church and their children 
went to school. Early in the century a gradual emancipation act was 
passed, which put an end to slavery here, as elsewhere in the State. 
About this time witchcraft caused much excitement in Bristol, and 
greatly frightened some of the good people. One young girl, Norton 
by name, on the mountain, declared that she was bewitched l)y her 
aunt, who, she said, had often jiut a bridle ujion her and driven her 
through the air to Albany, where great witch-meetinus were held. 
Elder Wildman Ijccame interested in this girl, and had her lirouirht to 
his own house that he might exorcise her. She stayed overnight, and 
after midnight the Elder, thoroughly frightened by the awful sights 
and sounds which had appeared to him, begged some of the neighbors 
to come and stay with him. One bold unbeliever, who ofl'ered to go 
with him, was frightened into convulsions by what he saw and heard, 
and was sick a long time in consequence. Deacon Dutton, of tin' Bajv 
tist Church, incurred the enmity of the witches, and an ox which he 
was driving one day was suddenly torn apart by some invisilile jiower. 
Other people were tormented liy unseen hands ])iiiehing them, sticking 
red-hot pins into their Hesh, and bringing strange maladies upon them. 

"So tlie old ohroiiicles s-iy, that won- writ in the days of the fathers." 

Before 1800, Bristol peojile had no way of receiving mail except 
through the Farmington iiost-otlice. Alxuit that year a post-rider 
began to go through the town weekly, carrying papers and letters in 
saddle-bags. In 1805 the stage-route was built, and thereafter Bristol 



52 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



^Mi^U^ ^J^r^ 



had easier commiiiiicatiou with the outside world. A militia company 
was organized in 1747, of which Caleb Matthews was tiie first captain. 
Judah Barnes was afterward captain for several years, and the annual 
training was held on the level ground east of the Barnes tavern ; after- 
ward ail artillery company was organized, and trainings were held for 
many years on the green near the Congregational meeting-house. The 
fii-st "tavern Icept in New Cambridge was at the Ebenezer Barnes house. 
In 1745 we find this mentioned on the town records as a then exist- 
ing institution. This tavern was kept by the Barnes family till their 
removal in 1795, and afterward by the Pierce family. Soon after the 
settlement of Parson Newell, Zcbulon Peck came here, attracted by 
the fame of his preaching, and began to keep a tavern back of the 
Daniel Brownson house at Goose Corner. Both these men were 
prominent in town and church, the latter being a deacon. In the 
early part of this century there were in the New Cambridge society, 
besides the Pierce tavern, one on Fall Mountain, kept by Joel Norton ; 
one on West Street, kept by Deacon Austin Bishop ; one near the Con- 
gregational meeting-house, kept by 
Abel Lewis ; one kept by widow 
Thompson, in the house now owned 
by Carlos Lewis ; one at Parson 
Newell's former residence (the Dr. 
Pardee place), kept by his son's widow ; one on Chippins Hill, kept 
by Lemuel Carrington ; and one near the south line of the West 
Britain parish, kept by Asa Bartholomew. 

The Barnes family, before 1745, established a saw-mill and grist- 
mill near their tavern, taking their power from the Pequabuck River, 
about where the present dam of the Bristol Brass 
and Clock Company stands. A distillery, saw- 
mill, and grist-mill were also running in Polk- 
ville, in the early part of this century, on the 
present G. W. k H. S. Bartholomew site, but 
they were probably started half a century later 
than the Barnes mill. Of the other industries 
carried on at this early time very little can be 

said. Mention is 
frequently made 
of "shops" in 
different parts 
of the town. 
These were prob- 
ably small black- 
smith, tin-ware, or cobbler's shops, manufacturing 
110 goods for market. A very small beginning 
was made about 1800 in the clock business by 
one Gideon Roberts, who lived on Fall Mountain. 
He made the columns and pinions on a small 
foot-lathe, cut out the wheels with his jack-knife 
and haud-saw, and painted the dial-face on a 
piece of white paper which he afterward pasted 
upon the clock. When he had finished a few, 
lie mounted l,us horse, with the clocks fastened about him, and 





A ROBERTS CLOCK. 



started 



BRISTOL. 53 

out to peddle them. Many clocks made hy him are known to have 
done good service for many years. He made clucks in tliis rude way 
several years, and handed down the Imsiness to his sous. Verv little 
is known as to the numher of clocks made by this family or the length 
of time they continued in the business. 

In the seciind decade other clock-makers bejran business and con- 
ducted it on a much larger scale. .Joseph Ives made wood movements 
as early as 1811, in a small building a little way north of the present 
site of Laporte Ilublali's shop. It is said that ("hauncey Boardman 
began the next year to make clock movements in a .shop south of the 
Burner shop site. It is certain that he was established here a few 
years later, doing a considerable business. In l8:]8 he began to make 
brass clocks, and continued tiiis mitil his failure in 18")0. Charles 
G. Ives also made wooden clocks during this decade in the small shop 
still standing on Peaceable Street. The Ives Ihi^tiiers, five in number, 
began in 1815, or thereal)out, to manufacture clocks a few iiundred 
feet north of the present Xoah Pomeroy shop, on the same brook ; 
and, still fartlier up the stream, Butler Dunbar and Or. Titus .Mcrriman 
carried on the same business. In I8l8 Joseph Ives invented a metal 
clock, with iron plates and brass wheels, and began its manufacture 
in a shop near the ])resent Dunbar spring-shop. This clock was large 
and clumsy, and never became very successful. About the amount 
of business done by these early makers little information is now avail- 
able. They made the old-fashioned clock, which hung u|) on the wall, 
with the long pendulum swinging licneath. In 1814 Eli Terry, of 
Plymouth, invented and liegan to make a shelf-clock. This very soon 
drove the old hang-up clocks out of market, and the manufacture of 
clocks in Bristol entirely ceased about 1820. 

Lack of space forbids a detailed account of the many firms which 
afterward carried on the clock business with greater or less success. 
Soon after the cessation of the business in 1820 it was revived by 
Chauncey Jerome, the most prominent of our t';irly manufacturers. 
In 1822, he iiuilt a factory at the old Pierce mill site, where the Bris- 



•'C^^Z^i'^CC'.^^-'t^^o^ 




tol Brass and Clock Company's dam now stands; and in 1825, another 
small factory near the present spoon-shop site. The next year Main 
Street was laid out, and a bridge l)uilt across the river to aecDm- 
modate travel to this factory. Mr. Jerome's business was thouglit 
to be very great, as he made nearly ten thousand clocks a year. 
During the next fifteen years .^anuiel Terry, the Ives Brothers, RoUin 
and Irenus Atkins, Bartholomew A- ISrown, Elisha Manross, George 
Mitchell, Ephraim Downs, Charles Kirk, and jio.ssibly others, began 
making clocks or cloek i)arts; but all <>f these, except Jerome and 
Terry, were either ruined or severely crippled l)y the panic of 1837. 
In 1838 Jlr. Jerome invented the one-day brass clock, whicli made 
an ep(jch in the clock business. Hitherto one-day docks had been 
nuidc ciulv of wood, and were therelnre uuich less durable and much 



54 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

more expensive than the brass clocks invented by Mr. Jerome, and 
were also incapable of transportation by water. The success of the 
new clocks was. so great that in 18-13 Mr. Jerome built two large fac- 
tories, one on each side of Main Street, just below the river. In 1812 
he sent Epaphroditus Peck to England to introduce there the Yankee 
brass clock. Mr. Peck found the cheapness and small size of his 
clocks the greatest obstacle to their sale, dealers thinking these a suf- 
ficient pi-oof of their worthlessness. The British Government, sus- 
pecting the low valuation which was put upon them at the custom-house 
to be fraudulent, confiscated the first cargo, paying therefor, in accord- 
ance with the custom-house regulations, the importer's valuation with 
ten per cent addition. Mr. Jerome, well pleased to sell his clocks by 
the cargo, sent another load,. which was seized on the same terms. A 
third cargo was allowed to pass, and after much trouble was sold in 
small quantities. A good English market was finally made for the 
clocks, and Mr. Peck stayed in England, selling for Mr. Jerome and 
other Bristol makers, till his death, in 1857. In 1815 these two fac- 
tories, and also a large factory of Samuel Terry, which had replaced 
Jerome's first one on the Pierce site, were burned. Mr. Jerome moved 
to New Haven at once, and the town seemed to have received a crush- 
ing blow. His one-day brass clock, however, had revived the business 
of all the clock-makers, and a new succession of small manufactui'ers 
entered the field, nearly every one of whom failed in 1857. 

The settlement of the village of Forestville was begun in 1833 by 
the firm of Bartholomew, Hills, & Brown. They built a factory at 
what is now the centre of the village, on the south side of the river, 
and made wooden clocks there. Mr. Hills and Eli Barnes, one of the 
workmen, built there, in 1835, the first dwelling-houses. The name 
of Forestville was selected as appropriate to the little opening in 
the woods. This factory, after passing through several intermediate 
hands, became the nucleus of the present business of the E. N. Welch 
Manufacturing Company. This company was formed in 1864, and has 
since added to its plant the factories originally built by the Forestville 
Hardware Company and by the Forestville Machine Company. It has 
been for several years the leading clock manufactory in Bristol. 

The firm of Welch, Spring, & Co. was formed in 1868, and has 
since been engaged in the clock business, making a very high grade 
of goods. Its business has been done in the Manross shop at Forest- 
ville, which was burned down and rebuilt in 1873, and in the old sash- 
factory at Bristol, which had been occupied for thirty years by Ives 
& Birge, Case & Birge, and by John Birge alone, in the same business. 
Mr. Elias Ingraham began manufacturing clocks in 1843 in partner- 
ship with Deacon Elisha Brewster. Mr. Ingraham originally came to 
Bristol in 1827, having been hired by Mr. George Mitchell to design and 
make clock-cases. He was then twenty -two years old, and a cabinet- 
maker by trade. Brewster & Ingraham" made cases in a shop built by 
Ira Ives, and movements in the old " Burwell shop," built by Charles 
Kirk.^ This firm was succeeded by E. & A. Ingraham, and the latter, 
in 1856, by E. Ingraham & Co. The last-named company, having lost 
the Ira Ives shop by fire, bought and moved upon its site the Bristol 
Hardware Company's factory, which it still occupies as a movement- 
shop. It afterward bought for a case-shop the old building which, 



BRISTOL. 57 

oripiially the meetiiiix-housc of the West Britain society, had been 
early moved to Hristol and used as a cottun-niill, and afterward l)y 
Georjie Mitchell as a ciociv-case factory. Ilaviuf;; reorj^anized in 1880 as 
a joint-stock curporatiuu, it is still condiictiiifr a prosperous business. 

Bristol capital was, until the panic of 1837, almost exclusively de- 
voted to the clock business ; but during the latter half of this century 
other branches of manufacture have come to be of almost equal local 
importance. The largest manufacturing company in town is the Bristol 
Brass and Clock Comi)any, which was oi'ganized in 1850 witii >; 100,000 
capital. The ne.xt year it built its rolling-mill and began the brass- 
foundry business. In 1857 it bought the spoon-sho]) which had been 
built in 184G by the Bristol Screw Company, and afterward occupied 
for the manufacture of German-silver spoons, forks, and similar 
articles by Holmes, Tuttle, & Co. In 18G8 its capital was increased 
to §230,000, and it bought the toy-shop of George W. Brown <fe Co., 
in which it began making lamp-burners. This shop was burned in 
January, 1881, and was replaced by the new three-story building, which 
is now the largest and fniest factory building in Bristol. The com- 
pany still owns these three shops, and carries on very successfully its 
three distinct lines of business. 

The Bristol ilanufacturing Company was formed in 1837, with a 
capital stock of $75,000, to make satinet cloth. It built in the 
same year the factory building on Water Street. When satinet went 
out of use, it began making stockinet underwear, and has continued 
this business there prosperously ever since. 

In 1850 the Bristol Knitting Company was organized, which bought 
the Benjamin Bay shop at flic north side, and began the knit under- 
wear business. At the end of fifteen years this company dissolved, 
having sold its business to Xathan L. Birge, who still continues it. 

The trunk hardware factories of J. H. Sessions tt Son were built by 
Mr. Sessions in 1869. He had before that manufactured wooden-clock- 
trimmings, in the northern part of the town, on a much smaller scale. 
After his removal to Bristol centre he carried on the manufacture of 
small hardware goods in his new sho]i. Mr. Alliert J. Sessions was 
then making trunk hardware in the old North Main Street shop, which 
had been built for an iron-foundry by Deacon (!corgc Welch, and after- 
ward occupied by Welch \- Gray for the same purpose. It was here 
that Elisha N. Welch began his manufacturing career. After the death 
of his brother in 1870, J. H. Sessions united the two establishments, 
and for a few months occupied i)oth shops. During that year, however, 
the National Water-Whccl Comjiany was organized, and it Ijought from 
him the old shop, which it occupies in the manufacture of turbine 
water-wiieels. In 1878 Mr. Sessions organized the Sessions Foundry 
Company, which bought and enlarged the Terry Foundry on Laurel 
Street, and began the iron-casting business in the autumn of that year. 

There are now about thirty factories in Bristol, nearly one half of 
which are occupied for the manufacture of clocks and parts of clocks. 
Among the many classes of goods which have at difTerent times been 
made here for market are candles, wire and horn combs, hoojv-skirts, 
cutlery, melodeons, ivory goods, musical clocks, mechanical toys, and 
raw-hide belting. The list of unsuccessful ventures, of bankrupt firms, 
of broken corporations, would fill a long roll. 



58 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

A rich vein of copper ore underlies the soil of the town, and at two 
places mines have been sunk and attempts made to realize a profit 
from this metal. Neither attempt was successful ; but there are many 
who believe that the failures were due to bad management, and that 
copper-mining might be carried on with success. The North copper- 
mine was opened by the Bristol Mining Company, a corporation organ- 
ized in 1837, with a capital of $60,000. The company soon spent its 
capital and stopped business. In 1851 the stockholders reorganized, 
and tried again to make the mine successful ; but their expenses were so 
great that they were forced to abandon it to mortgagees in New York. 
Still another attempt was made to work the mine by its new owners, 
and Professor Silliman, of Yale College, for a while superintended its 
operations ; but the plan was finally abandoned, and the mine property, 
having a long time lain unused, was finally sold out in 1870. The old 
buildings still give an appearance of ruin and desolation to the land- 
scape. The history of the South mine was very similar. So much 
capital was required in opening the mine, and the machinery used 
was so expensive, that the operators were ruined before they had really 
begun to take out any metal. 

At the outbreak of the Rebellion the people of Bristol were quick 
to take their part in the great contest. On the 11th of May, 1861, 
at a special town-meeting called for that purpose, a committee was 
appointed, to see that the volunteers from this town were supplied with 
necessary comforts, and that their families were not allowed to suffer, 
and five thousand dollars were appropriated to be used for these pur- 
poses. In July, twenty Bristol men were mustered into Company B of 
the Fifth Regiment, and in October another little body of Bristol volun- 
teers entered Company C of the Fifteenth. Almost every regiment 
which left the State had some of our citizens in its ranks, and within 
a year over one hundred men had entered the army. When, in July, 
1862, the President issued his call for three hundred thousand three- 
years men, it was thought that Bristol ought to send a company filled 
and officered by our own citizens. The town voted a bounty of one 
hundred dollars to every volunteer, and stirring war-meetings were 
held in Crinoline Hall. Newton S. Manross, at that time Professor 
of Mineralogy in Amherst College, took the lead in this movement, and 

he was elected Captain of the 

y^ ^^_ tj^ j^ Bristol company, — K, of the 

x/i<e<AA'^eiru<^ C7cy<^a^U4y>^ Sixteenth. All the officers of 

this companv and seventy-four 
of its members were from Bristol. In about a month another call 
was made for three hundred thousand men to serve nine months, and 
Bristol again took her part in the response which followed. Com- 
pany I of the Twenty-fifth was entirely officered by Bristol men, and 
forty-nine of its eighty-five original liiembers were from this town. 
Bounties of three hundred dollars were paid from the town treasury 
to all who entered this company, or who at any time thereafter 
enlisted or furnished substitutes. 

The whole number of men credited to the quota of this town by the 
adjutant-general was three hundred and eighty-seven. The enlistments 
and re-enlistments from our own citizens numbered two hundred and 




l^/l-M ^ ,fj-i(j ?^r /vi 



BRISTOL. 6g 

seventy ; of this number about twenty were re-enlistments, leaving 
the total number of Bristol mi'n who were in the service very nearly 
two hundred aud fifty. The services of the difl'erent regiments are 
a matter of state and national rather than of local history. The Six- 
teenth was hurried to Washington, furnished there with arms, and 
rushed into battle at Antietam almo.st entirely ignorant of militarv 
discipline. In this battle fell Captain Manross, killed instantly at the 
head of his company. A young man of high character, an earnest 
and successful student, having just been appointed to a seat in the 
faculty of Andierst College, he gave up the brilliant [irospects before 
him to enter the army, only to fall in his first meeting with the enemy. 
His body was brought home and buried with military honors, attended 
to the grave by the newly enlisted soldiers of the Twenty-lifth. who 
had not yet left Bristol. A monument has been erected to his memory 
in the Forestville cemetery by the students of Amher.st College. Com- 
pany K, with the rest of this regiment, spent the following year in hard 
campaign work, marching, and building fortifications, rather than in 
sharp fighting. April 20, 1804, they were captured at Plymouth, N. C, 
and sent to Andersonville prison. Of the seventy-four Bristol men 
who went out in this company, twenty-four died in Kebel prisons, most 
of them at Andersonville; and those who came l)ack came as from 
the brink of the grave, shattered in body and mind, shadows of the 
robust men who had gone out three years before. Ca])tain T. B. Robin- 
son, with two com]ianions, escaped from Andersonville and made his 
way to the North, hilling by day, travelling by night, depending on the 
negroes for guidance and for food. 

The Bristol company of the Twenty-fifth went with its regiment 
to Louisiana, took part in the battles of Irish Bend and Port Hudson, 
and was mustered out of service Aug. 2.3, 18G3, a part of the men 
re-enlisting in other regiments. Our volunteers in the Fifth and Tenth 
went through much of the hardest fighting of the war, were with Sher- 
man in his famous march through Georgia, with Grant at Appomattox 
Court House, and took ]>art in the victorious occupation of Richmond. 
Our soldiers' monument bears upon its side the names of Antietam, 
Fredericksburg, Newbern, Gettysburg, Plymouth, Fort Wagner, and 
Irish Bend, — battles in which Bri.stol soldiers were killed. Of our 
two hundred and fifty volunteers, fifty-four died in the service. Of 
these, sixteen were killed or mortally wounded in battle, twelve died 
of disease, two were lost at sea, and twenty-four starved in Rebel 
prisons. Of the entire number, only thirteen are buried in Bristol ; 
the rest sleep, most of them in unknown graves, at the South. 

During the last year of the war the building of a monument txj our 
dead soldiers began to be discussed, and in ilay, 18G.5, immediately 
after the fall of Richmond, a meeting was held and a Monument Asso- 
ciation organized. Subscriiitions were at first limited to one dollar, 
that the sorrow and gratitude of the whole people might find expression, 
but afterward larger sums were taken. During the autumn the work 
was finished, and on the 20th of January, 18(i6, our soldiers' monument 
was dedicated. It is of brown Portland stone, twenty-five feet high, 
bearing upon its sides the names of those to whose memory it was raised, 
and the battles in which they fell. This was the first soldiers' monu- 
ment raised in Connecticut, and, it is said, the first in the country. 



60 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

The mercantile and genei-al prosperity of the town has, of course, 
kept pace with tlie development of its manufactures. Most of the 
early settlers built on wliat is now called King Street, in East Bristol, 
and the tavern there became tlie centre of what business and social life 
existed. Later, the building of the stage-route transferred the business 
centre to the north side, and the few stores were grouped about the 
post-office and tavern on the turnpike road. In the middle of this 
century the stage-road was succeeded by the raih'oad, and business 
again siiifted itself to the neighborhood of the railway station, where 
it'' has ever since remained. The block of old wooden stores near 
the station, in whicli most of our merchants were then located, was 
burned to the ground in January, 1870. It was immediately replaced 
by a substantial brick block, but this too was burned in April, 1873. 
In February of the same year Laporte Hubbell's shop was burned, and 
in April, only two days after the burning of Nott & Seymour's block, the 
Forestville Welch & Spring shop was entirely destroyed. The bm-n- 
ing of H. A. & A. H. Warner's small shop in May completed a disas- 
trous list of fires. Nott & Seymour's block was rebuilt in the autumn 
of 1873. It has ceased, however, to be the only or the principal busi- 
ness building, and the centre of the town is now well filled with 
substantial and handsome stores. 

In 1870 the Bristol Savings Bank was incorporated, and in 1875 the 
Bristol National Bank, both of which have been very valuable agents 
in promoting the general prosperity. In 1871 our first permanent 
newspaper was started, — the "Bristol Press," — which has thus far 
maintained its position as a reliable local journal. At various times 
prior to this there had been irregular publications of small sheets, 
but little deserving the name of newspaper. The population of the 
town has increased gradually during the century of its existence, a 
considerable gain having been made in every decade since 1820. In 
1790 the total number of inhabitants was 2^462, and in 1800, 2,723. 
In 1810 the number fell to 1,428, the town having been lately divided, 
and in 1820 a further loss to 1,362 was reported by the census. Since 
that time the figures have been as follows : 1830,'l,707 ; 1840, 2,109 ; 
1850, 2,884 ; 1860, 3,436 ; 1870, 3,788 ; 1880, 5,347. It will be noticed 
that during the last ten years the increase was over forty per cent, 
a much greater gain than in any former decade, and a gain equalled by 
very few towns in the State. 

The history of the Congregational and Baptist churches has been 
sketched, and that of the early Episcopal Church. After the long sus- 
pension of Episcopal services which followed the removal to East 
Church, the society reorganized in 1834. They immediately built a 
small church building on Maple Street, north of Daniel S. Lardner's 
house. The Rev. George C. V. Eastman was their first rector, and 
they continued to hold services there till 1862. In that year they built 
the church building which they have since occupied on Main Street, 
and soon after sold their old building to the Forestville Methodist 
society. 

During the great Methodist revival period in the early part of this 
century several itinerant preachers came here and tauglit the doc- 
trines of that then novel sect. A few converts to their preaching 
organized the Methodist Church in 1834. A " class " had alreadv been 




^/-v^^^ 



BRISTOL. 61 

formed, iiichiding at first only four members. So >ircat was ilie hos- 
tility to Methodism in the other denominations, that the laud for a 
church building could be bought only by concealing the fact that it was 
to be used for a Methodist Church. The building was completed in 
1837, and was occii])ied by the society until they built their new church 
in 1880. This church has grown continually and rapidly. The first 
religious services that were held in Forestville were ledbv itinerant 
Methodist preachers about 1850, and in 1855 fourteen members organ- 
ized a church tliere. They held services iri-egularly for several vears 
at private houses, and in 1864 bought the church building which the 
Episcopal society had hitely vacated, and moved it to Forestville. This 
building they still occupy. 

The first Roman Catholic services in town were held about 1840, at 
the North copper-mine, by priests from New Britain and Waterbury. 
When mining operations stopped, and the building of the railroad 
through the town began, many of the Roman Catholics moved to Bristol 
Centre, and mass was said for several years in a building below John 
Moran's house on Queen Street, and in Gridley's Hall. In 1855 the 
Roman Catholic residents, still constituting a mission attached to the 
New Britain parish, built their church building. Eleven years later 
Bristol was made an inde]iendent parish, and the Rev. M. B. Roddan 
became the first pastor. He was afterward absent a few years, but 
returned, and is still in charge of the parish. 

In 1858 a Second Advent Church organized; they maintained 
services several years in private houses and in public halls, and in 
1880, having united with a body of seccders from the Methodist 
Church, bought the old meeting-house from which that church had 
just moved, and have since had a settled pastor and a regular place 
of worship. 

In addition to the regular services of these seven Christian churches, 
occasional meetings are held by the Spiritualists, a considerable num- 
ber of whom live here. 

In closing this sketch the writer wishes to acknowledge his in- 
debtedness, and the public indebtedness, to previous workers in the 
same field. The writings of Tracy Peck, Esq., are of especial value. 
A man of great accuracy, and deeply interested in everything pertain- 
ing to our local history, he had the advantage of living at a time when 
the memory of old residents went back nearly to the settlement of the 
town. In writing of the first fifty years, one can hardly do more than 
repeat the details that he collected. Assistance has also been received 
from Mr. Roswell Atkins's Ilistiiry of the Bristol Baptist Church, and 
from a series of sketches published by the " Bristol I'ress " during its 
first year of i)ublication. 

The historian of Bristol has no thrilling events to record, no famous 
names to eulogize. He has to deal with the commonplace acts of com- 
monplace people. But while none of our citizens have attained to more 
than local fame, we have been remarkably free from that dense igno- 
rance and squalid poverty often to be found in a manufacturing town. 
Bristol has l)een fortunate, in that the clock business, in which it has 
been so largely engaged, is one which re(|uires a high degree of intel- 
ligence and skill in the operatives. Until very lately there has been 
no distinctively "factory settlement" in town, and our pleasantest 



62 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

streets have been lined by comfortable and handsome residences owned 
by our skilled mechanics. 

The intellectual and moral growth of the community, the most 
interesting and most valuable part of every history, can hardly be 
touched upon in such a paper as this. The organization and disso- 
lution of business firms, the buildaig of factories, the establishment of 
churches, — these make up the tangible details of a history whose real 
interest lies in the constant growth from the quaint farming hamlet of 
1742 to the brisk manufacturing town of the present time, preserving 
continually those characteristics which have made the political and 
social life of New England remarkable and unique. 

Two well-known Bristol citizens who have done much to build 
up the place are Messrs. Elias Ingraham and Elisha N. Welch. 

Elias Ingraham was born in 1805, and came to Bristol in 1826, 
in the employ of Mitchell & Hinman. He died at Martha's Vineyard, 
Aug. 16, 1885. He had been for thirty years at the head of the Elias 
Ingraham Company, and was the originator of many valuable designs 
and methods, a man of fine business capacity and of high Christian 
character. 

Elisha Niles Welch was born in East Hampton, Feb. 7, 1809. He 
removed in 1826 to Bristol, and has since been extensively engaged in 
manufacturing and also in farming. He is now president of the E. N. 
Welch Manufacturing Company, Bristol Brass and Clock Company, and 
Bristol Manufacturing Company, and is also a director in several other 
important concerns. He was representative in the State legislature 
for two terms and State senator for one term. 




CA-<^XX4^ 




V. 

BURLINGTON. 

BY THE HON. ROLAND HITCHCOCK, 
Ex- Judge of the Superior Court of Connecticut. 

THE territory of which tiiis town and Bristol were formed, belonged, 
many years ago, to Farmington, and was called Farmington 
West Woods. It was part of the land purchased of the Tunxis 
Indians by the original proprietors of that town, and was by them sur- 
veyed, and divided into tiers of lots ; the interest of each proprietor 
therein being determined by the amount of his interest in the whole 
purchase. 

For many years after the " reserved lands " of Farmington were 
settled, this territory remained a wild, unbroken forest. Hartford and 
Windsor, by colonial grant in the time of Sir Edmund Andros's at- 
tempted usurpation, were the proprietors of Litchfield and Harwinton, 
whicli were settled earlier than Farmington West Woods. Credible 
tradition relates that the path of such proprietors to those towns was 
through West Woods, and it is possible (as some have claimed) that 
along this wild path settlers might have been found as early as 1740 ; 
but they were very few and widely scattered. It is certain, however, 
that several permanent settlers were in this territory between 1740 
and 1755. Among these were, in the western i)art, Enos Lewis, Asa 
Yale, Seth Wiard, Joseph Bacon, and Joseph Lankton, Sr., though 
the last named afterward lived at the Centre ; Abraiiam and Theodore 
Pettibjue, extensive landiiolders, and men of much inliuence, in the 
northern part ; Nathaniel Bunuel and one Brooks in the southern 
part ; and John and Simeon Strong 
in the eastern part. But the .settle- 
ment was slow ; tlie land was infested 
by Indians as they retired westward 
from the settlement of the white man 
along the natural meadows of the Farmington valley, and it was not until 
about 1750 that the jiermancnt settlement to any considerable extent 
began. In 1774 the General Court, by separate enactments, established 
in Farmington West Woods the ecclesiastical societies of West Britain 
and New Cambridge, each having well-defined limits. In 1775 these were 
incorporated as the town of Bristol, and thereupon ceased to belong 
to Farmington. In 1806 Bristol was divided ; the part of it within the 
limits of West Britain was incorporated as the town of Builington, and 
the part of it embraced in the limits of New Cambridge remained, and 
was constituted the town of Bristol. 



(Jid'azfct/^ 



64 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Pursuant to the act of incorporation, the first town-meeting of Bur- 
lington was held June 16, 1806. Abraham Pettibone was moderator, 
and the town was duly organized by the election of the ordinary town 
officers. Since its incorporation part of the township has been annexed 
to Canton and part to Avon ; its population, as well as its assessment 
list, has thereby been much reduced, and it is believed that its eastern 
boundary has been thrown back to the Farmingtou River. 

The first religious society organized in what is now Burlington was 
a society of Seventh-Day Baptists ; the Ecclesiastical Society of West 
Britain was established (as has been remarked) in 1774, but no reli- 
gious society was formed under it till 1783, when the Congregational 
Church was formed. It appears from " Clark's History of the Sevcntli- 
Day Baptist Church in America," that " a church of that denomination 
was oro-anized on the 18th of September, 1780, at Farmington West 
Woods "[afterwards (1785) called West Britain ; afterwards still (1806) 
incorporated as the town of Burlington] , by the Rev. Jonathan Burdick 
and Deacon Elisha Stillman, consisting of nineteen members." They 
came — about twenty families — from the town of Westerly, Rhode 
Island, and their settlement and meeting-house were about two miles 
north from the village now called Burlington Centre. They were ex- 
emplary and industrious people, ardently attached to their faith, and 
had much influence in the affairs of the town in its early history ; 
many of its influential members ultimately removed with their families 
to the State of New York, and there joined a church of their faith. 
This weakened the old pioneer chm'ch to its ruin, and after a precarious 
existence of forty or fifty years it became extinct. Many of the dwell- 
ings built by these people are still standing, though none of the well- 
remembered builders, none of their descendants, none of the faith so 
dear to them, and for which they endured so much, remain to care for 
the graves of the many they left in the silent city of their dead. 

The Congregational Church was formed July 3, 1783, with twenty- 
six members, and still worships harmoniously in the faith of the 
fathers. The Rev. Jonathan Miller, from Torrington, the first minis- 
ter, was ordained Nov. 26, 1783, and continued his ministrations until 
a few years prior to his death (July 21, 1831). The first meeting- 
house was located at the foot of what is called Meeting-house Hill, on 
the northern slope of a hill nearly opposite the corner of the roads 
where stood the old tavern of Zebulon Cole, and about twenty rods 
across the road, in a southeasterly direction from it ; the locality is 
now overgrown with wood. The second meeting-house was located 
about thirty rods northeast from the first one ; the heavy bank wall 

which constituted its northern foundation 
*y^ y ^ ^y •''*^ill stands, a lasting monument to the 
/^fC'f'i*^^^?^ ^^fr^ sturdy, earnest men who more than seventy 

years ago erected it. This meeting-house 
was dedicated Dec. 25, 1808, and stood, with its long row of horse-sheds 
on either side of the road and its steeple high among the clouds, until 
1836, when it was removed to where it now stands, remodelled, and 
on the 14th of December of that year re-dedicated. 

The Methodist meeting-house was built in 1814 ; it was located in 
the southerly part of the town, on the elevated ground a few rods 





BrRLINGTOX. 65 

nortlieastcrly from the south cemetery, aiul was removed to its present 
locution in 183'). Nathan Hangs (^afterward ])resi(U'nt of Wesleyan 
University), Laban Claris, and l>aniel Cue (pioneers of JMethodisui in 
the State) were among the early pastors of the church of that faith in 
the town. 

The township is eighteen 
miles west from Hartford, is 
bounded on the north by New 
Hartford, east by Farmington 
River, south by Bristol, and 
west by Harwinton, and is ab(jut six miles long and five in breadth. 
In most parts it is well supplied with streams and springs of excellent 
water ; it has hills and valleys, and in many parts is rugged with stones 
/i^ xOy^ """^^ rocks. The .soil is not unlike 

CCa.^€-^^^^ C^^ 1^'^^; f'"" °*''r" g^-^"itic parts of 

^'^"-^ ^^ the htatc, produces substantially 

the same kinds of fniits and ce- 
reals, and with ])ropcr cultivation 
yields to the farmer a good return for his industry. The natural 
growth of timber is walnut, oak, birch, maple, antl chestnut, which 
were quite evenly mingled in the primitive forests. 

The inhabitants arc generally engaged in agricultural pursuits, and 
are intelligent, industrious, thriving, and hajjpy, in tiieir ((uiet homes. 
The affairs of the town have been manage<l generally with ability and 
good judgment, and it is now free from debt, after having paid all its 
expenses and met all its burdens growing out of the late Civil War and 
the depreciation of property consequent upon it. 

Convenient access to the town is furnished by a branch of the New 
Haven and Northampton Railroad, which runs tin-ough its eastern 
part. At the census of 18S0 its population was 1.224. 

West Britain from its small and sparse population furnished several 
soldiers for the country in the War of the Revolution. After its incor- 
poration as Bin'lington the town furnished many in the War of 1S12 ; 
and though the pensioners of those wars who belonged to the town 
have passed, with their honorable scars upon them, to " the undiscov- 
ered country," they are held in respectful remembrance by all who 
knew them. In the late Civil War the town furnished its full quota of 
soldiers, many of whom will return no more. 

" The leaf to the tree, the flower to the plain, 
But the young and the hrave they come not again." 

The narrow limits to which this sketch must be confined forbid 
extended reference to the noble men and women who were the early 
inhabitants of the town. Jfuch of pleasant reminiscence and merited 
respect might properly be said of them. Their personal appearance, 
their characteristics, and their manv virtues awaken in one who knew 
many of them feelings of mingled ]ileasure and sadness as they return 
ill memory. The names Alderman, Barnes. Beat'li, Beckwith, BeldiMi, 
Bronson, "Brooks, Brown, Bull, Buiinel. Butler, Cleavcland, Cornwall, 
Covcv, Craiidal. Culver, Curtis, Elton, T-'reiieh, Fri.sbie. Fuller. Cillett, 
Griswold, Hale, Hart, Hiteheoek, Hotehkiss, Humphrey. Lowry, Marks, 
Mathews, Moses, Norton. Palniiter, Teck, Pettibonc. Phelps, Pond. 

VOL. 11. —6. 



66 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Richards, Roberts, Session, Smith, Webster, West, Wiard, Woodruff, 
and many others not less worthy belonged to inhabitants honorably 
identified with the early history of the town, and whose energy in their 
respective spheres contributed much to its first prosperity. 

Dr. Peres Mann, the first physician of tlie town, was a native of 

Shrewsbury, Mass. He acquired his profession in Boston, and settled 

in West Britain about 1780. Dr. Aaron 

/^ ^o, Hitchcock was his professional successor ; 

\^^ ^ P^<i/ >^**-y**'^ he settled in his profession in Burlington 
about 1806. 

The Rev. Romeo Elton, D.D., was a native of the town, and received 
his rudimental education in its common schools. He graduated at 
Brown University, in Providence, Rhode Island, in the class of 1813. 
Much might be said of him to encourage young men in their struggle 
against repelling circum- 
stances, did the space per- 
mit. He was a modest, yy^/^ .^t-^'y^^ .yy^ 
retiring man. His chief ^QP'^^^^^"^"*^^ 
delight was the study of the 
ancient and modern languages, to which his unobtrusive life was unre- 
mittingly devoted, both in this and foreign countries. It is believed the 
country has produced few if any more thorough linguists, few of purer 
literary taste. His fine personal appearance, cultivated diction, and 
musical voice placed him among the most agreeable of public speakers. 
He died at Boston, Feb. 5, 1870, at the age of eighty years. His pub- 
lished works, besides occasional sermons, are an edition of J. Callen- 
der's " Historical Discourse " (on the early history of Rhode Island) 
with a memoir of the author, notes, and a valuable appendix ; the 
" Literary Remains of the Rev. Jonathan j\Iaxcy,D.D., with a memoir of 
his life ; and a " Life of Roger Williams," printed in London in 1852. 

Simeon Hart, for many years principal of the celebrated Farming- 
ton Academy, was a native of Burlington, and received his common- 
school education there. He graduated at Yale College in the class of 
1823, and soon after became principal of the academy above referred 
to, to which he gave much celebrity, and in the management of which 
he gained for himself high reputation as a teacher. His useful life 
closed at Farmington, where for the most part it had been spent, and 
where his students have erected a fitting monument to his memory. 

Dr. William Elton, a native of the town, has been for several years 
the resident physician. He is a gentleman of good literary taste, and 
well qualified in his profession. 



VI. 

CANTON. 

FROM NOTES BY D. B. HAL?: AND r.KVI CASE. 

CAXTON^ measures eii^ht miles north and suiith, with a breadth 
east and west varying from one and a half miles at the n(jrth to 
three miles at the south. It is bounded north l)y Barkhamsted 
and Granliy ; east, by Simsbury ; south, l>y Avon, Ihirliugton, and New 
Hartford ; and west by New Hartford and Harkluimsted. It has in its 
territory four ])ost-offices, seven churches, eisrht school-houses, fifty-five 
miles of public hii>liway, and about four hundred dwelliu'r-houscs. The 
Plartford and Connecticut Western Railroad, and a Ijranch of the New 
Haven and Northampton Railroad, commonly called the Canal Road, 
pass throuuh the town. 

The surface of the territory is much broken by hills. There are 
Rocky, Rattlesnake, Onion, Crump's, and Wildcat mountains. The 
valley of the Farmington River in the southwest part of the town is 
fertile, and Cherry Brook valley, where Canton Centre lies, is noted for 
its fine farms, though the most valuable agricultural land in the town 
limits is said to be in the low plain near the eastern boundary. The 
great "Jefferson flood" of 1801, which made many changes along the 
P^armingtou valley, washed away much of a very valuable tract, called 
the Hoj) Yard, that lay between Cherry Brook and Farmington River, 
and the river at that time took permanent possession of the channel of 
the stream. 

Rattlesnake Mountain derives its name from the fact, or tradition, 
that an early settler, Mrs. Wilcox, while driving home her cows, met 
near there a very large number of rattlesnakes. She killed forty of 
them (all full grown) and came unharmed out of the conflict; but the 
mountain, liy a curious freak of history, takes its title from the defeated 
forces. Crump's Mountain, one and a half miles north nf Canton Centre, 
is named from Cruminis, a noted Indian who had his wigwam on its 
summit for many years after the whites came. Indian Hill, near the 
New Hartford line, was for some time the home of a band of Indians,— 
a peaceful set who were much troubled by other Indians, that lived in 
and gave the name to that part of New Hartford known as ^fatan's 

1 Canton, originiiUy West Simsliury, includes Canton Centre and CoUinsvDle, and has a 
territory of about twi-iity-tbree square niilre. Settled, 1737 ; made a ijarisli, 1750 ; ineorporatcd 
as the town of Canton, 1S06. Clianges of area have been : the early acquisition of a mile tier 
from New Hartford on the west, and the sotting otT in 1873 of about one eighth of the town, 
to Shnsburj' on the northeast. In 1758 there were C4 tax-]xivers ; in 1S30 there were 2,299 
inhabitants. Principal industries, the manufacture of edge tools at CoUiusville, and agri- 
culture. 



68 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



Kingdom. Cherry Brook and Cherry Pond — the latter a considerable 
body of water a mile south of Canton village, extending into Avon — 
were named from an Indian called Cherry, who, it is said, acquired 
that name from his fondness for cherry-rum. He was finally horse- 
whipped and driven from the place, because when intoxicated he 
threatened to scalp Oliver Humphrey, keeper of the public-house, for 
refusing to sell him more rum. He lived on the bank of the Ijrook. 
Indian relics are frequent in the town and Indian traditions abound. 
One is that Silas Case, of East Hill, received from a dying Indian in- 
struction in the nature of herbs and diseases that made him for years 
a famous healer of the sick. 







'satan's kingdom." 



The first permanent Avhite settler in West Simsbury was Richard 
Case, who in 1737 took possession of land on East Hill, granted to his 
father, Richard Case, of Weatogue (Simsbury). A part of this grant 
has remained ever since by direct inheritance in the possession of 
his descendants, and so has never been deeded. 

The following historical sketches of the first settlers were prepared 
by the late Ephraim Mills, Esq., and they were published in Phelps's 
"History of Simsbury, Granby, and Canton," in 1845. They are now 
revised for this work. 

Richard Case removed from the old parish to West Simsbury in 1737, and 
is supposed to have been the first settler, and to have erected the first dwelHng- 
house. His son, Sylvaniis, has ever been reputed to be the first English child 
born within the limits of West Simsbury. He had ten sons and two daughters. 
His descendants are numerous in Canton, Granby, and Barkhanisted. 

There were four brothers of the Barber family, who removed from the old 
parish in 1738, — Samuel, Thomas, Jonathau, and John, — all of whom settled 
on lands contiguous to each other, within the limits of the old Centre school 
district in Canton. Dr. Samuel Barber liad eleven sons and three daughters, 
all of whom lived to adult years. Some of his descendants are now living in 
this town. 

Sergeant Thomas Barber had five sons and five daughters, all of whom lived 
to adult years. Some of his descendants now reside in the town. 



CANTON. 69 

Jonatlinn Barber lind two sons and one daughter. He died in early life 
(1745), at tlio siege and capture of Louisburg. None of his descendants reside 
iii this town. 

John Barber had five sons and one daughter. lie died in 1 707, aged seventy- 
seven yeai-s. His sou Keuben died in 1825, ajid was the first person l)uricd in the 
new cemetery in Canton Centre. 

Deacon Abraham Case removed from the old parish to West Simsbury about 
1740, and died in 1800, aged eighty years. He had two sons and five daugh- 
ters. He settled on tlio East Hill. 

Amos Case, brother of Abraham, settled on the East Hill about 1740. He 
had five sons and four daughters, all of whom lived to adult years. He died in 
1798, aged eighty-six. 

Benjamin Dyer, a schoolmate of Dr. Franklin, came from Boston to West 
Simsbury about 17 H. lie had five sons and two daughters. He resided one 
mile northeasterly from Colliusvillc. The house built by him is said to be the 
oldest in town. 

Samuel Humphrey came here about 1741. He settled in Canton village. 
Ho had three sons and three daughters, all of wlumi lived to marry and leave 
children. 

Joseph Mills, aged thirty, married Hannah Adams, aged fifteen, antl came 
here in 1742 or 1743, and settled in Canton Centre. He had ten sons and four 
daughters, all of whom he lived to see married and have children. He died in 
1783, aged eighty-nine. 

Ezra Wilco.x came here about 1740, and settled on the west side of the 
Farmington Kiver, opposite the mouth of Cherry Brook. He had five sons and 
four daughters. 

Dudley Case was a brother of Daniel, Zaccheus, and Ezekiel. He came here 
in 1742, and built a ])ublic-house in Canton village, aftiaward long known as 
the Hnsford House. He had seven children. He died in 171)2. 

Oliver Humphrey, Esq., came here about 1742, and settled in Canton village, 
and was the first magistrate in West Simsbury. He bad eleven children, all of 
whom lived to adult years. He died in 1792. 

Nathaniel Alford came here in 1742, and settled on the East Hill. He had 
one son and five daughters, all of whom were married and left cliildren. 

Lieutenant David Adams came here about 1743, and settled in North Canton. 
He had four sons and five daughters. He died in 1801. 

Sergeant Daniel Case came here in 1743, and settled in Canton Centre. He 
had four sons and five daughters. He built the first grist-mill in the place. He 
died in 1801, aged eighty-one. 

Captain Ezekiel Humphrey came here about 1744, and settled in Canton 
village. He had five sons and five daughters. He died in 1795. 

Captain Josiah Case came here about 1743, and settled on the East Hill. 
He had two sons and four daughters. He died in 1789, aged seventj'-one. 

Isaiic Messenger came here about 1743 or 1744, and settled in Canton Centre. 
He had ten sons and three daughtere, all of whom were married and left children. 
He died in 1801, aged eighty-two. 

Ensign Isaac Tnller came here in 1744 or 1745, and settled near Cherry 
Brook. He had three sons and eight daughters. Ho died in 180G, aged eighty-six. 

Captain Zaccheus Case came lierc about 1749, and settled in Canton Centre. 
He had one son and si.\ daughters, all of whom married and iiad children. Ho 
died in 1812. 

Deacon Hosea Case came here about 1752, and settled on the East Hill. He 
had four sous and seven daughters. He died in 1793, aged sixty-two. 

Captain John Foot came here in 1753, and settled in Canton Centre. He 
had two sous and four daughters, all of whom had children. He died in 1812, 
aged eighty-two. 



70 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Captain John Brown came here from Windsor in 1756, and settled in Can- 
ton Centre. He had four sons and seven daughters, aU of whom had children. 
He died in 1776 in the American army, at New York. 

Solomon Humphrey came here about 1755, and settled near Canton village. 
He had three sons and two daughters, all of whom had children. 

Among people born in Canton who have made their mark in the 
country are judges, college presidents, members of Congress, mayors of 
cities, lawyers, doctors, and clergymen, teachers, and successful men 
of business. The father and mother of the famous John Brown were 
natives of Canton. 

Canton has never been lacking in patriotism. In the French and 
Indian War twenty soldiers went from there (West Simsbury), and 
only ten came back ; in the Revolution there were between seventy and 
eighty soldiers from the place ; in the War of 1812, about fifty ; and in 
the recent Civil War, two Iiundred and fifty-seven, — a large number of 
whom went never to retmii, or came home to die from injuries received 
in the service. 

The people of West Simsbury began holding Sunday services in 
private houses about 1741. In September, 1746, at the house of Richard 
Case, they organized an ecclesiastical society ; and at the May session, 
1750, the legislature created West Simsbury a distinct parish and the 
First Congregational Church was formed. Between 1747 and 1750 
there was preaching by the Rev's Adonijah Bidwell and Timothy 
Pitkin. When the church was formed, the Rev. Evander Morrison 
was called, at a salary of £250, "old tenor," and thirty cords of 
wood, — the church to build him a house if he would furnish nails and 
glass. As the result of a quarrel he was dismissed in eleven months, 
and the house was not built. Succeeding pastors have been the Rev's 
Gideon Mills, 1759 to 1772, when he died ; Seth Sage, 1774, to his dis- 
missal in 1778 ; Jeremiah Hallock, 1785, to his death, after forty-one 
years' pastorate, in 1826 ; Jairus Burt, 1826, to his death in 1857 ; and 
since then, the Rev's W. C. Fisk, Chaides N. L3'man, A. Gardner, and 
David B. Hubbard. There was a secession from the church in 1778, 
led by the Rev. Mr. Sage. Meetings were held in private houses in the 
north part of the town for some years, and in 1783 a meeting-house 
was built on the Granby road, half a mile north of the present North 
Canton Methodist church. The organization was scattered at Mr. 
Sage's death. In 1783 another schism occurred, when the " Separat- 
ists " left the church ; and in 1785 these again separated, and the Bap- 
tist society was then established. Their first pastor was Elder Jared 
Mills. Their church was moved and rebuilt in 1839. A Methodist 
church was built in North Canton in 1871, and one in CoUinsville in 
1868 ; but this was closed in 1878. As early as 1751 there was a 
movement into the Episcopal church, but the withdrawing members 
joined the church in Scotland (Bloomfield). It was not until 1875 that 
a society was organized here. The Episcopal church was built in 1876. 
The Roman Catholic church in CoUinsville was built in 1852. 

Congregational service in CoUinsville began in 1831, with preaching 
in Collins & Co's hall by the Rev. George Beecher, who died in Ohio 



CANTON. 



71 



from the effects of a gunshot. He was a son of Lyman Bcccher. The 
church was organized in 1832 by the Rev's Dr. Joel IJawes, of Hart- 
ford, Allen iMc- y7,^ .^ t r 
Lean, of Sims- ^ //^^ , C4-l---l..^.t^<)^y^^.,,,Ci.<S^ 
bury, Jairus ' 

Burt, of Canton Centre, and H. N. Brinsmade, who had been preaching 
^, there since 1831. The Col- 

G. <S. 7^.a,-'^?yV^^.;t-^c.v^ [!»« Company built the first 

Congregational churcli m 
183(). Among its pastors have been the Rev's Cornelius C. Van Ars- 
dalen, Frederick A. Barton, ^ ^ 

Charles Backus McLean Alex- ^ ^ ^ O^ y^:^ ) 

audcr Hall, and L. K. Lamb. / 

The Cherry Brook meeting-house was built in 17(33, and the present 

^ house of worship took its place 

L^fd^>4 ~7^, yiA^ olcM^K^^ '" Canton was incorporated by 
the legislature as a town in ISOG, liecause of the inCDnvcnioncc that its 
inhalutanfs suffered in having to go to Sinisbury to vote. James Hum- 
plirey was town clerk until 1829; William IL Hallock succeeded him. 
In 1837 Ilallock's house was burned, and all the town records destroyed. 
As CoUinsville grew in size, its inhabitants, like tho.se of West Sims- 
bury at an earlier date, objected to going to Canton to vote. In 1860 
the people of both villages agreed to hold their meetings alternately at 
one and the other place. In 1866 CoUinsville was made a separate 
voting place for " electors' meetings," that is, general elections ; but the 
old New England town-meeting is still held alternately at Canton and 
at CoUinsville. 

As in all Connecticut towns, schools have formccl from the beginning 
an important featui'c of life in Canton. Until 17i)6 the Ecclesiastical 
Society managed them, ai)pointing the school committees yearly. Then 
the School Society was created, and appointed committees, inspectors, 
and even district committees. In 1839 the districts were allowed to 
ch(jose their own committees, and in 1856 the general supervision of 
school matters was given to the town. The school question has been at 
the bottom of many of the most exciting controversies that the town has 
known, and the interest in it has been eouslant. The early school- 
houses, with their huge fire])laces for burning four-foot wood, are yet 
remembered by some of their surviving scholars, who recall how, before 
matches were introduced, great endeavors were made to keep the coals 
alive over night ; for if there were none there in the morning, some one 
must go to the nearest house for " fire." Not only in school-houses, 
but hi all houses, the fire had to be kept burning, or else new fire must 
ijc got outside. The town of Canton ajipropriates about >io,0()(3 a year 
for schools, including the allowance from the State. Careful of (heir 
schools, the people have always been orderly and law-abiding. Tlicre 
has never been a murder in the town, nor was there one in the parish 
before it became a town. Agriculture was the early occupation. Every 
farm had its flock of sheep, ami every farm raised fiax, and everybody 
wore and used woollen and linen that were made at home by the women 
of the household. The usual cereals were cultivated. There were mimy 



72 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTT. 

apple orchards. Immense quantities of cider were made and everybody 
drank it. What was left was converted into cider-brandy, and this was 
sufficient to maintain a large number of distilleries, — at one time, about 
forty. The cider-brandy business was an important source of income 
to the farmers ; but it has been practically discontinued, and the cul- 
tivation of tobacco takes its place. To the moralist, who mourns the 
spread of tobacco-culture, this fact is not insignilicaut. From cider- 
brandy to tobacco is certainly no descent in morals. 

With the facilities that its ample water-jjower has furnished, Canton 
has always had manufactures of more or less importance, — at first 




THE ORIGINAL COLLINS WOKKS. 

to meet the few wants of the local population, and later to supply the 
growing demands from outside ; until now. with the vast development 
of the works at CoUinsville, it has come to be one of the great manufac- 
turing centres of the State, whose products are known and used all over 
the world. The first forge for the manufacture of iron was started in 
1774 by Colonel Talcott and Messrs. Forbes & Smith. It was just 
below the present covered bridge, near tlie house of Julius E. Case. 
This forge, and that set up in the south part of the town in 1792 by 
the brothers Captain Frederick and Colonel George Humj^hrey. were 
carried off by the flood of 1801. There have been grist-mills of 
Daniel Case, on Cherry Brook ; of Ambrose Case, in the north part 
of the parish ; of Joseph Segur, near the present CoUinsville covered 
bridge (he crossed daily to his mill by canoe) ; and of Orville Case, 
near the junction of Albany turnjiike and Cherry Brook road. At 
one time there were seven saw-mills in Canton. The blacksmith's 
trade, of course, and wood-working and wagon-making were among 
the local industries. There was a fiax-mill about sixty years ago on a 
stream south of the present residence of G. Woodford Mills. Tliere 
have been several carding-mills in the town. Of the industries that have 



CANTON. 75 

disappeared, tlic most important were the manufacture of those two great 
forces, iiun]iowdcr and lirandy, wiiicli iiavc liad so iniicii influence upon 
society and human history. In 1825 there were not loss tlian forty 
distilleries in Canton ; now, with doul)le the po|)ulation, there are less 
than half a dozen. The first powder-mills were huilt hy Jared Mills 
and Kclmund Fowler, on the Nepaug stream, near its junction with the 
Furuiinjiton. Iloi'e the manufacture was carried on for sixty years, and 
not less than thirty jieoplo were killed in its successive explosions. In 
1834 another i)owder-mill was huilt on Cherry Brook, near the North 
Canton cemetery, hy Swett Sc Ilumphiey. This ran ahout twenty years. 
The whole business of powder-making was abandoned in the town 
about 1865. 

The great body of the population of Canton is now gathered in 
Collinsville, about the extensive works of the Collins Company, which is 
practically the source and centre of all the activities of the place. The 
company directly or indirectly supjtorts 2,500 of the inhal)itants of the 
towns of Canton, Avon, and Burlington. Nearly all of Collinsville lies 
in the town of Canton, but the boundary lines of Avon and Burlington 
pass through its southern part. 

The Collins axes, of which no loss than fifteen million have been 
manufactured, are known and used all over the world. Before 1826 
every axe was the hand-work of the common blacksmith. It was ham- 
mered out on the anvil and sold without an edge, so that half a day"s 
grinding was needed to make it u.seful. This circumstance is the cause 
of the notion which still jirevails on many farms, that an axe must be 
ground before use. The fact is, that no one can imjjrove ujion the edge 
which the skilled workman puts upon the finished tool. A blacksmith 
of Somcrs, in this State, named Morgan, whose axes had an excellent 
reputation, bought the steel for them from David Watkinson & Co., of 
Hartford. Tiiis attracted to axe-making the attention of David C. 
Collins, a nephew of Mr. Watkinson, and a clerk in his store, and he 
experimented in making some all ready for use, ground and polished, 
when sold. He soon determined to undertake the business, and formed 
the firm of Collins it Co., with his brother Samuel W. Collins and their 
cousin William Wells. This was in 1826. They ijought the Humi)hrey 
grist-mill privilew, in the south part of Canton, on Farmington River. 
In December 1831 the post-olfice of Collinsville was cstaijlished at what 
had been South Canton. Wages in the new factory, which were jiaid 
once a year, ranged from $12 to $16 a month, with board, and eight 
forged axes were a day's work. Now, one man with a helper forges 
from one hundred and fifty to two hundred. 

In 1829 the use of Lehigh coal was introduced, these being the first 
edge-tool works in the world to use the fuel. In 1832 the factory was 
very much enlarged, and in that year Mr. E. K. Root, from Chicopee, 
Mass., was made the su])erintendcnt. He was a man of jjeculiar mechan- 
ical skill, and several of iiis many inventions, though made forty years 
ago or more, have never been supplanted or improved. One of these is 
the very essential machine for ])unching the heads of solid axe-polls. 
Mr. Root remained at Collinsville seventeen years. In 1834 Collins <t 
Co. were succeeded by a corporation, the Collins Company, with a 
capital then of $150,000. Its capital has been increased liy cash con- 



76 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

tributions to $1,000,000, and it has paid a dividend every year of its 
existence since 1835. In 1867-1868 the company built a number of 
important works, inchidiug one of the most remarkable and finest dams 
in the country. It is three hundred feet long and eighteen feet high, 
and is made of massive blocks of native granite, fastened together 
and set into a groove cut in the solid rock-bed of the river bottom. 
The daily product of the works exceeds three thousand tools. More 
than five hundred tons of steel and two thousand tons of iron, a large 
part of which is manufactured by the company, are every year made 
into tools thei'e, and, in grinding an edge upon these, over six hundred 
tons of grindstones are worn to dust. 

The success of the company is very largely due to the ability of the 
two remarkable brothers whose name it bears. Samuel Watkinson 
Collins and David C. Collins were the sons of Alexander Collins and 
Elizabeth Watkinson, of Middletown, where the father practised law. 
He died in 1815, and his widow and family moved to Hartford. 

David C. Collins was born in 1805. Upon the removal to Hartford 

as a boy he was taken into the family and the store of liis uncle, David 

^_ Watkinson, in the iron busi- 

CcfT^-^jt^^ ^a ^!^-«»~i5<^<fc^»-i— ness. His energy and keen 

business judgment are evi- 
dent in the manner in which, when only twenty-one years old, he pro- 
jected the axe manufacture and organized the firm of Collins & Co. 
Both brothers devoted their lives to this company. 

Samuel W. Collins was l)orn in September. 1802, at Middletown. 
He went to live with Edward Watkinson, for whom he became clerk. 
Here he developed such capa- ^7 ^^ 

city for business, and so much jQi^^j^^-^-^^yT^^r^j^t^t^ix^^T^ 
executive ability, that before 

he was of age he was taken into partnership, the firm being Wat- 
kinson & Collins. In 1826 he became one of the new firm of Collins 
& Co., and from that time devoted his great energies to the axe 
business. Mr. Collins, as the resident manager and head of the com- 
pany for so many years, occupied a most important part in shaping 
its course, and also the affairs of the community. He was singularly 
correct in his estimates of men, an admirable judge of character, and 
quick to recognize talent and to encourage it. In all his intercourse 
with his employes he commanded their respect and secured their affec- 
tion. He was always interested in their welfare, and was such an 
earnest opponent of strong drink, that he bought out at least two hotels 
and one drug-store to stop their liquor-selling, and paid one man to 
sign a promise never to live within ten miles of the town. In all the 
deeds under which he sold land to employes or others he inserted a 
clause prohibiting the manufacture or sale of liquor there, under penalty 
of forfeiture of the land. Mr. Collins died in 1871, in the beautiful 
home which he had built upon the west side of Farmington River. He 
had the satisfaction of seeing the work which he began in so small a 
way reach its great dimensions, and of having the name of Collins 
known round the world, and recognized as a synonym for honest work. 



VII. 
EAST GRANBY. 

BY CHAKLES nORACE CLARKE. 

EAST GRANBY was incorporated in 1858, out of Granbv and 
Windsor Locks. Granbv was set off from Simsburj' in 1786, 
and Windsor Locks from Windsor in 18.54. The individual 
history of East Granbv is chiefly that of the Turkey Hills Parish 
Society, which was the Northea.st Society of Simsbiiry. This society 
was created in 1730, and in 1737 a \iavt of the Northwest Society of 
Windsor was added to it ; this part was taken from \\'indsor Locks 
and incorporated into East Granby when the town was established. 

As early as 1793 an effort was made to have East Granby set off as 
a separate town, because (Jranby at that time reconsidered the vote 
under which tlie town-meeting was held once in three years at Turkey 
Hills. The limits then asked for the proposed town were practically 
those which were at last fixed upon. 

The town embraces about eighteen square miles ; being four and 
a half miles east and west, and averaging four miles north and 
south. Its population in 1860 was 833 ; inl870, 853 ; in 1880, 754 ; 
showing a decrease in the last decade of more than twelve per cent. 
This decrease was due almost wholly to the decline in value of agri- 
cultural products, especially tobacco, which followed the close of the 
War of the Rebellion, and the extended culture of that product in 
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and AVisconsin. A more economical ])roduction 
was necessary, and tlicre was consequently a limited euipkiyment of 
farm laborers. Th(! Talcott range uf mountains divides the town from 
north to south into nearly oqiud parts, 'i'hat west of the mountain is 
rolling and somewhat hilly; that east of the moimtain slopes gradually 
down to a ])lain, and is uf peculiar natural beauty. 

As early as 1710 iron was manufactured at a mill on Stony Brook, 
in the extreme northeast part of the town, close by the Suffield line, and 
this is believed to have been the (irst manufacture of iron from ore 
procured in the colony. About 1728 a furnace called the " new works" 
was set up a mile farther south, on land now owned by Oliver M. 
Holcomb. The ore was from surface stone gathered in that part of 
Windsor whicli still retains the name of Ore JIarsh. The manufac- 
ture of wire-cards began about 1820, on the Farmington River, and 
other industries followed. In 1846 tiie Cowles >Lanufacturiug Company 
made s])oons. and it is claimed was the first to make a practical success 
of electric i)lating. its works gave the name of Sjiounville to the 
site, and that remains, although sijoon-making ceased there about thirty 
years ago. 



78 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

The town is free from debt, and an average annual tax of seven 
mills has been sufficient to support all public burdens during the last 
ten j'ears. Tlie town has two ecclesiastical societies, — the Congrega- 
tional, having its church edifice in the Centre, just at the foot of the 
eastern slo])e of the mountain ; and the Methodist Episcopal church, 
situated about a mile north of the old Newgate prison, on the west side 
of the mountain. The former was established in October, 1736, after a 
long and bitter controversy extending through many years. The final 
result was the division of Simsbury into four parish societies, of which 
Turkey Hills was one, — each to have independent ecclesiastical privi- 
leges. June 16, 1737, the parish of Turkey Hills voted to build a 
church, and applied to the legislature for a committee to locate its po- 
sition. John Edwards, James Church, and Joseiih Talcott, Jr., having 
been appointed such committee, selected the site for the church at an 
" oak staddle," on land of Samuel Clark, upon the west side of the 
north and south highway, some ten rods south of the present dwelling- 
house of Charles P. Clarke, and about the same distance noi'th of the 
intersecting highway leading eastward. Out of the bitter church con- 
troversy referred to there grew a topographical map of ancient Sims- 
bury. ^ This map shows that about 1730 there were living in the parish 
twenty-eight families, — twenty-three east and five west of the moun- 
tain. In 1709 there wore but two families, — those of John Griffin and 
Joshua Holcomb, — l)Oth of whom lived near the Falls. 

The church building was begun in 1738. It was taken down in 1831 
by George Burleigh Holcomb, who used some of its timbers in the build- 
ings on the place.where he now resides. The present edifice was begun 
in 1830 and completed in 1831. The first clergyman employed in tlie 
parish was a Mr. Wolcott, who preached in 1737. The Eev. Ebenezer 
Mills was settled in 1741. From 1754 to 1760 there was preaching by 
candidates. The Rev. Nehemiah Strong, afterward professor in Yale 
College, was settled as pastor, Jan. 21, 1761, and dismissed in 1767. 
The next settled pastor was the Rev. Aaron Booge, November, 1776. 
The society ajipointed seventeen tavern-keepers for the day of his 
ordination ! He was dismissed in 1785, but supplied the pul]:)it four 
years longer. The Rev. Whitfield Cowles was ordained in 1794; but 
dissensions arose, he was tried for heresy, and the society fell into 
discord, and for a while lost its legal existence. The next regular 
ministers were the Rev's Hervey Wilbur, 1815-1816, and Eber L. Clark, 
1816-1820, who were also chajilains at Newgate prison. Tiiere have 
been frequent changes of ministers since then. The Rev. Joel H. 
Lindsley, who found the church in 1865 in a very reduced condition, 
owing to quarrels and dissensions arising from the questions of the 
war, did much to revive it and to endear himself to the people. At 
that time the church building was renovated and improved. The pulpit 
is now supplied by the Rev. D. A. Strong. 

The Metliodist church at Copper Hill was built in 1839, and in 1859 
was thoroughly repaired, and moved about five rods westward. Like 
all Methodist churches, it has had regular changes of pastor. In the 

1 This curious and very interesting map is now in the State Library in the Capitol in Hart- 
ford, and would be reproduced liere in fac-simile but that its peculiar proportions make that 
impossible. It is a topographical and genealogical chart for a considerable part of Simsbury aa 
then settled. 



EAST GRANBY. 79 

ministry of Lcmiiol Richardson, in 1S71, there was an extensive revival 
of religion, attended witli reniarliable manifestations. Tlie writer, at a 
single evening meeting in the chnreh, which lasted from seven o'clock 
until midnight, witnessed as many as fifteen persons who became appar- 
ently unconscious. Some were stretched upon the floor; others were 
lying or being supported ujion the seats. This visitation of " the S|)irit " 
was regarded as a great blessing, and it certainly did strengtiien the 
church in numbers. Mr. Richardson was a large, ])owcrful man, full 
of strength, zeal, and boldness, and possessed of a strong, loud voice, 
which lie used in singing as well as in preaching and prayer. 

The celebrated Simsliury copper-mine, where afterward was located 
for fifty-four years the ('(uinccticut State prison called Newgate, was 
first known to tlu' inhabitants of Simsbury in 1705. Two years later 
there was an association of such projjrietors of the town as chose to 
subscribe to articles of agreement foi- the jturpose of opening and work- 
ing it. Tiie location of the mine was about a hundred rods from the 
west ledge of the Talcott Jlountain, at its highest point in East Granl)y, 
which is a jioint nearly as high as any in the same ridge in the State. 
The i)ositioii is one of much pictures(|ueiicss and beauty. The period 
of greatest mining activity was from 1715 to 1737 ; during these years 
it was carried on in face of great dangers and greater discouragc- 
meuts arising from the newness of the country and the want of proper 
facilities of every nature jiertaining to the Inisiness. The articles of 
agreement under which the subscribing proprietors, in 1707, under- 
took to work the mine, provided that, after deducting the expenses of 
the work, there be allowed to the town ten shillings on each ton of 
copper lu'oduced, and the residue be divided among the proprietors in 
proportion to their subscriptions. The company only dug the ore; 
they did not undertake to smelt and reline it. In tlie same year they 
entered into a contract with llessrs. John Woodbridge, of Springfield, 
Dudley Woodbridge, of Simsbury, and Timothy Woodbridge, Jr., of 
Hartford, all clergymen, who agreed to run and reline the ore, and 
cast the metal into bars lit for transportation or a market ; and, 
after deducting the tenth part belonging to the town (of which two 
thirds was to \)c given for the maintenance of an aiile schooluiaster in 
Simsbury, and the other third to the collegiate school of Yale College), 
the residue was to be equally divided between them and the proprie- 
tors, or workers of the mine. The legislature, in 170!\ passed an act 
vesting the right to control all matters relating to the mine in the 
major part of the proprietors, according to the interests of each : and 
it was under arrangement with this organization that mining opera- 
tions were carried on until the State began to use the mine as a prison. 
The act also jjrovideil for the adjudication of all matters in controversy 
between any and all persons connected with the mines, by a board of 
commissioners. During the mining excitement com|)anies, organized in 
Boston, in London, and in Holland, ex]iended large sums at Copper 
Hill. Governor Belcher, of Jfassachusetts, .said in 1735 that he had 
spent X 15,000 there. The mine most improved, and where the great- 
est excavation was made, was the one purchased for a |U-ison. The 
most extensive workings, aside from those on Copper Hill, were known 
as Higley's mine, situated a little more than a mile southward, on 



80 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 




A HIGLEY COPPER. 



land now owned by Hilton Griffin, and nearly west of the old vine- 
yard gap in the mountain, where upon the map of ancient Simsbury 
Mr. Higlcy's house is seen to have been located. Mr. Edmund Quincy, 
of Boston, had a company of miners working here at the outbreak of the 
Revolutionary War ; soon afterward the works were abandoned. About 
1737 Samuel Higley, here referred to, manufactured a rude copper coin 
which to some extent circulated as a representative of value in the 

vicinity, and has since been 
known as the Higley Copper. 
The coins are said to have 
passed current for " two and 
sixpence ; " presumably in pa- 
per, because their intrinsic value 
was only a penny. They were 
not all of one device ; but one 
now in the Connecticut His- 
torical Society, at Hartford, is 
here represented by engravings, 
showing both sides. Such a coin has now a cabinet value of perhaps 
a hundred dollars. The interest in the mines was very much abated 
after 1737. Of the ore dug, a considerable part was shipped to Europe ; 
some of it arrived safely, and was smelted. One cargo was rejjorted 
lost in the English Channel, and one captured by the French. About 
1721 smelting and refining works were built and secretly operated (to 
what extent is unknown) at a place in West Simsbury called Hanover 
by the Germans, who were then conducting the business. The locality 
has since retained the name. 

At the May session of the General Assembly, in 1773, William 
Pitkin, Erastus Ellsworth, and Jonathan Humphreys were appointed a 
committee to " view and explore the copper-mines at Simsbury " with 
regard to the fitness of that place for a prison, and after their favor- 
able report they were authorized to obtain possession of the property. 
Tliey bought up a mining lease that had nineteen years to run, and 
prepared the place to receive prisoners. The legislature gave it the 
name of Newgate. Burglars, horse-thieves, and counterfeiters were 
liable to be sent there to work in the mines. John Victs was the first 
master, or keeper, of the i)risun. The first convict, John Hcnson, was 
received Dec. 22, 1773, and escaped on the 9tli of the next month. 
The history of the prison is a long record of escapes, uprisings, 
fires, and other troubles, although it early acquired the reputation 
of a very secure place, as appears by General Washington's refer- 
ence to it.i In 1777 the prisoners were all taken to the Hartford 
jail, and probably the prison was not used again until 1780, when it 



1 Letter from General Washington to the Coinmittee of Safety, Simsbury. 

Cambridge, Dec. 11, 1775. 
Gentlemen, — The prisoners which will be delivered you with this, having been tried 
by a court-martial, and deemed to be such Hagraut and atrocious villains that they cannot by 
any means be set at large or confined in any place near this camp, were sentenced to be sent 
to Symsbury in Cmmccticut. You will therefore be pleased to have them secured in your jail, 
or in such other manner as to you shall seem necessary, so that they cannot possibly make 
their escape. The charges of their imprisonment will he at the Continental expense. 

I am, etc., 

George Washington. 



EAST GRANBY. 



81 



was rohuilt. and the prisoners were set at other work than mining. 
I'rovicjusly they had niineci ore, wliieh was sold by order of the legis- 
hitiirc. Tiicro was another sweeping fire in ll&l, and the phice was 
then abandoned until 1790. A new prison was eoniplcteil in October, 
ITi'O, and Major Peter Curtiss was appointed kcej^er. The heavy wall 
about the premises was built in 1802. The prisoners were confined 




NEWGATE PRISON IN 1802. 

below ground ; many of them wore iron fetters, and tradition has it 
that some were chained to rings in the wall. There was a treadmill 
under one of the buildings, which the convicts operated. 

All the prisoners were linally removed to Wcthersfield, on the 1st 
of October, 1827, and the jirison 1)uildings and land were sold shortly 
afterward to persons interested in mining oiierations. The history 
of Newgate has been written out with great detail by NoaJi A. Phelps. 
After the abandonment of the property by tlie State for prison pur- 
poses several eft'orts were made, without success, to carry on the min- 
ing of copper. No considerable amount of ore was reduced, and the 
experiments were abandoned in 1859. Since then the mines have 
served only to afford a curious interest to those who visit the place 
iin account, of its associations as the former jirison of the State. Its 
buildings are now far gone to decay, and soon nothing but crumbling 
walls of stone will mark the place, once famous alike for its hidden 
treasures of copper and for being the first substantial stronghold for 
the criminals of the colony. 

Few communities have been less subject to change of inhabitants 
than East Oranby. Its lands are excellent, and those who are engaged 
in agricultural pursuits have very much to cncourairo them to remain. 
Of the families shown upon the map of ancient Simsluiry to liave 
been first settlers in the iilace, those of Clark, Phelps, Ilolcomb, 

VOL. 11. —6. 



82 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 




NEWGATE PRISON AS IT NOW APPEARS. 



Griffin, Stephens, Alderman, and Owen have always had successors of 
their respective names living in tlie town : and of Thomas Stephens, 
Samuel Clark, Joseph Phelps, and John Holcomb, their lineal descend- 
ants, Frederick F. Stephens, Charles P. Clarke, Richard H. Phelps, 
and Morton Cornish, are each respectively occupyini;- the homestead 
estate of his ancestor. 

Elmore Clark, now seventy-eight years of age, has been the clerk of 
the town since its organization, and occupies the same house built by 
his ancestor, Joel Clark, in 1746. Isaac P. Owen, recently deceased, 
was the last representative by name of that family in the toN\ n ; he, too, 
occupied the homestead of his first ancestor in East Granby, and while 
living in the same house represented the towns of Windsor, Windsor 
Locks, and East Granby, in the legislature of the State. Tlie families 
of Moore, Clark, Owen, and Forward came directly from W^indsor to 
settle in East Granby ; while tliose of Higley, Phelps, Holcomb, Viets, 
and Cornish came to the place from Lower Simsbury, where there was 
a settlement, mostly by Windsor people, more than forty years earlier 
than in the parish of Turkey Hills. Li the death of Alfred Winchel, in 
1879, that family name ceased to have a representative in East Granby. 
Dr. John Viets, the ancestor of one of the now most numerous families 
in the town, is said to have come to Simsbury in 1710, being physician 
to a mining expedition from Germany. There seems to be some reason 
to question the accuracy of this date, because at that time the copper- 
mines had hardly begun to attract attention from abroad ; and further, 
because his name does not appear upon the ancient map made about 
1730. His grave is in the cemetery, at Hop Meadow, in Simsbury. 
His son John was the first keeper at Newgate, and was probably the first 
of the family who lived within the limits of East Granby. The family 
names of Viets and Coi'nisli do not appear upon the parish record of 



EAST GRANBY. 83 

Turkey Hills until 174:5 and 1744 rcsi)octivoly ; those of fiay and 
Thrall in \~-')\ and 1754. 'I'lic liist ifprcscntativc in town uf the f!ays, 
was Ricliurd, who came lioni Dedhani, Mass., and ever since there 
have been here lineal representatives of that name. The name of 
Bates is one prominently assuciateil with the town since 1747, when 
Lemuel Bates came from Long Island, learned the saddler's trade, and 
liuilt the house now occupied by his grandson, William II. Bates. The 
uauus of llillyer and Skinner are nut found upon the parish register 
until 177!'. Colonel Andrew llillyer, the father of Charles T. llillyer, 
of Hartford, was probably settled in Turkey Hills about 1774. He was 
then a young man. a graduate of Yale College, — had served under 
Colonel Lyman, in the English campaign of 17G0, against the French 
in Canada, and was also a soldier in the expedition of Lord Albemarle 
against Havana. Such was the fatality by sickness in that expedition, 
tiiat he was, with one excejjtion, the sole survivor of fourteen persons 
enlisted from Simsbury. He was one of the first to respond to the 
|)atriotic call to arms in the War for lnde])endencc ; a lieutenant at 
Bunker Hill, he served throughout the Mar, holding successively the 
commissions of lieutenant, cajjtain, and adjutant. His grave is in 
the old cemetery at East Granliy. After the removal to Hartford of 
Ceneral Charles T. Hillycr in 1853, no representative of that family 
remained in town. 

Of the many persons born in East Cranby who have obtained dis- 
tinction in business and iirofessional life, jierhaps no other has merited 
and attained to the renown of Walter Forward. 11(^ was the fourth, in 
order of birtii, of ten children born to Samuel Forward and Susannah 
Holcomb. Tiic place of his l)irt]i ( which occurred Jan. 24, 1783) is 
shown upon the map of ancient Simsbury. He lived in Turkey Hills, 
receiving only the advantages of a common-school education, until in 
1803 he removed with his father to Aurora, Ohio. Walter immediately 
went to Pittsburg. Pcnn., attended for a short time an academic school, 
studied law with Judge Young, and was admitted to practice at the age 
of twenty-four. While engaged in his law studies, in 1805, he also 
edited the "'Tree of Liberty," a Jel'l'ersonian paper, at Pittsburg. His 
success as a lawyer was immediate, and he soon ranked high in his 
I)rofession. In 1822 he was elected to Congress, wlicre he served 
three terms in succession. In 1837 he was a valuable member of the 
Constitutional Convention of the State. In 1841 he was appointed by 
Presid(>nt Harrison first Comptroller of the Treasury ; and by John 
Tyler made St>er(>tary of the same. After retiring from the secretary- 
shiji of the Treasury he resumed the jiraetiee of the law. iu which he 
continued until api)ointed l)y President Taylor Chargd d'Ail'aires to 
Denmark, a position which he resigned to accept that of Presiding 
Judge of Alleghanv County. This latter he held at the time of his 
death, in 1852. 

He was a man of most kind and generous nature, and interested 
himself to aid his younger brothers to education and position. His 
brother Chauucey. born in 17!'3. studied law in liis olTiee. and settled in 
Somerset. Penn. He was a memi)er of l)oth liouses of the legislature 
of Pennsylvania, and three terms, from 1825 to 1831, a member of Con- 
gress. The daughter of Chnnncey Forward i)ecame the wife of the 
Hon. Jeremiah Black, who also studied law in the office of Walter 



84 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Forward, at Pittsburg. Two sisters, Hannah Forward Clark and Betsey 
Forward Fowler, lived to the advanced ages of ninety-eight and ninety- 
seven years respectively. 

Of those born within the limits of East Granby, who have achieved 
great wealth and prominence in business affairs, may properly be men- 
tioned Anson G. Phelps and George Bobbins, of New York City, Allyn 
Robbins, of Chicago, and General Charles T. Hillyer, of Hartford. 

The following persons, residents of the town, were soldiers in the 
War for Independence : — 

Colonel Andrew Hillyer, Hon. Samuel Woodruffe, Isaac Owen, Lemuel Bates, 
Mathew Griswold, Roswell Phelps, Richard Gay, Joel Clark, Reuben Clark, 
Zopher Bates, John Forward, Hezekiah Holcomb, Jolm Cornish, Asahel Holcomb, 
Thomas Stevens, Jesse Clark, Joseph Clark, John Thrall, Luke Thrall, David 
Euo, Reuben Phelps, and Samuel Clark. 

Soldiers in the War of 1812 were : — 

Dan. Forward, Joseph Cornish, Appollos Gay, Orson P. Phelps, Calvin 
Holcomb, Ale.xauder Hoskins, William K. Thrall, Erastus Holcomb, Gurdon 
Gould, Peidtha Clark, Uriah Holcomb, Elilm Andrus, John G. ilunner, Alexan- 
der Clark, Abiel Clark, Chandler Owen, Sardius Thrall, Charles Buck, Elihu 
Phelps, Ephraim Shaylor, William Rockwell, Joseph Dyer, Jesse Clark. 

The widows of Joseph Cornish and Gurdon Gould, aged respectively 
eighty-five and ninety-four years, are now living in town, and are 
pensioners of the Government. 

Citizens of the town who enlisted as soldiers in the War of the 
Rebellion were : — 

Colonel Richard E. Holcomb, Leeds Browji, Oliver K. Abels, Francis V. 
Brown, W^esley J. Fox, William W. Morgan, Lafayette F. Johnson, Henry H. 
Davis, Corporal Sidney H. Hayden, Robert Holmes, James Odej', Lewis S. 
Porter, Delos R. Piuney, Daniel W. Griffin, Homer Russel, Edward W. Pierce, 
Nelson W. Pierce, Newton P. Johnson, Lieutenant Edward Pinney, Sergeant 
Eugene C. Alderman, Corporal Henry W. Davis, Corporal Emery M. Griffin, 
W^agoner John 0. Holcomb, Lyman J. Barden, Luther W. Eno, Henry E. 
Griffin, James Boyle, Tryon Holcomb, Webster B. Latham, Alexander Patter- 
son, Alfred A. Phelps, Lewis C. Talmadge, Charles W. Talmadge, and James 
Jackson, — 3-1-. 

The town furnished more than one hundred men to the service ; but 
the above list is believed to include all who were residents at the time 
of their enlistment. 



/(a^77vtrvic-€^ J^&uJc^ 



VIII. 
EAST HARTFORD. 

BY JOSEPH O. GOODWIN. 

THE town of East Hartford has a population of 3,500. It covcis an 
area of about five miles in extent north and south, and al)out 
tiiree and one half miles east and west. Fertile meadows lie 
aloni^ the Connecticut River from the northern boundary of the town 
to the Hocivanuni, and half a mile below this stream the land again 
descends t(j the meadow level. On the eastern cdjje of the meadow the 
ground rises fifteen feet or more to the upland. The town as a whole 
is quite level. It is crossed from east to west by the Hockanum River, 
running tortuously, anil, below I>uinside, through a shalhnv vallev of 
pasture-lands. Tlic surface ot the town is further seamed by the 
courses of several brooks, crossing the town in the same general direc- 
tion with the Hockanum. Spencer Hill, a fine rounded knoll south- 
east of the village of Burnside, and Great Hill, covered with forest, just 
north of it, are anumg tlic most prominent elevations. Thci'e are sev- 
eral other moderate undulations, affording a gentle relief from the 
general level. Tiie soil is a sandy loam, easily tilled. A hidden ledge 
of sandstone underlies the falls at Burnside and extends southerly sev- 
eral miles. It is said that the first settlers found the town, excepting 
its meadows, covered by a forest of white and yellow pine. The eastern 
lialf of the town is now partly covered by wood. 

The principal al)original occu])ants of this town were the Podunks. 
a small clan numbering from si.xty to two bundled l)Owmen. — the 
lower estimate probably being nearer the truth. Their principal place 
of habitation was along tlic I'odunk River at the northern boundary of 
tlie town. Certain rights of territory reserveil to fliem in the meadows 
liere were recognized by the General Court, wliich ordered a fence about 
it in 1G50, at the cost of adjacent proprietors. Here tiiey spent their 
sunnners beside the well-stocked river, cultivating their slender crops, 
— passing their winters in sheltered lodges by the inland streams. 
Tiie valley of the Hockanum and the adjacent ujilauds were also favor- 
ite haunts of the Indians, their aliundant li.sh and game affording an 
iMsy sustenance, while the skins and furs of animals jirovided a ready 
means of barter with the Dutch or English. Fort Hill, a promontory 
projecting southerly into the valley ab(iut a quarter of a mile east from 
Main Street, was once a stronghold of the Podunks. It had a ditch 
and palisades across its northern side, cutting off approach except 
through the swamp. Several of their burial-places have been discov- 
ered in South Windsor, one lying near Main Street a little north of the 
East Hartford town line, from which numerous relics have been taken. 



86 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Skeletons have been dug up near Colt's Ferry, and many stone relics 
have been found in the fields adjacent to their haunts. The Indians 
in peaceful times shifted their lodging-places as the presence of game 
or spots fit for their rude tillage invited them. The meadows, kept 
partly cleared by their autumnal fires, attracted the deer and perhaps 
other large game, and afforded rich interval-lands for their maize and 
beans. They "drove" the woods in the fall for their winter's supply 
of provisions ; and their quests for grapes, nuts, acorns, herbs and 
roots, and their still-hunts and trapping-circuits, made them familiar 
with this whole region. 

One of the first among the Indians to invite the English here was 
Wahginnacut, a Podunk, who went to Boston, and afterward to Plym- 
outh, in 1G31, desiring their aid against the Pequots, who had driven 
the Podunks from their lands. The Indians freely gave up their lands 
here to the English, expecting nothing but good from the presence 
of such shrewd and powerful allies ; and the young colony early as- 
sumed a sort of tutelary care of the savages, which their lawless natures 
soon found rather irksome ; but the courts protected their rights, and 
arbitrated in their continual differences. The most famous of their 
troubles was their quarrel with Uncas, the Mohegan, and Sequassen, 
chief of the Hartford Indians, concerning the killing of a sagamore 
by a young Podunk. By request of Uncas the parties came before the 
magistrates at Hartford. The blood of the murderer and that of his 
friends was demanded ; but the Podunks offered wampum in rejjara- 
tion, claiming that the slain sachem had murdered the young man's 
uncle. After much persuasion by the English, Tantonimo, the one- 
eyed chief of the Podunks, agreed to deliver up the murderer, but 
instead stole away to Podunk Fort, at Foi't Hill. Upon this the Eng- 
lish gave them over to their own devices. Uncas assembled his war- 
riors, but was met near the Hockanxnn River by Tantonimo with a 
nearly equal force. He threatened to bring the dreadful Mohawks upon 
the Podunks, and left without hazarding a battle. He afterward em- 
ployed a crafty warrior to fire a Podunk wigwam and to leave Mohawk 
weapons upon his trail. These the Podunks found, and in alarm gave 
up the murderer and sued for peace. The quarrel was brought to the 
notice of the Commissioners of the United Colonies of New England, 
who, in Sciitemljer, 1657, ordered that "Uncas bee required to ji'mit 
the Podunk Indians to returne to their dwellings & there abide in peace 
and safety w%ut molestation from him or his." 

The English were also solicitous for the spiritual interests of their 
savage wards. According to Do Forest, the Podunks " were the first 
Indians of Connecticut who had an opportunity of hearing the preach- 
ing of the gospel." In 1657, John Eliot spoke to their assembled 
chiefs and great men in their own language, in the meeting-house in 
Hartford. At the close he asked them whether they would accept 
Christ or not. They scornfully replied, "No; you have taken away 
our lands, and now want to make us your servants ! " The Rev. Mr. 
Woodbridge, the first minister here, says, with a strong interjjreta- 
tion of Divine justice, that these scoffers all died soon after, and that 
in his day (1683-1746) not one remained. The reserved rights of the 
Indians to certain lands in Podunk, part of whicli Tantonimo had bar- 
gained or leased to Thomas Burnham and Jacob JIvo-att in 1658, were 



EAST HARTFORD. 87 

the subject of mimorous orders l)y tlie Court. Tlierc were conflicting 
claimants anionj^ the whites to these hinds. Tiie loo.seness and inuuifi- 
cence with which the tatterdemalion sons (jf the forest jrave away their 
airv title to vast tracts of land is shown liy the will of Joshua, third son 
of Uucas. His wife was Sowgonosk, daughter of Arramamet, a I'odunk 
chieftain. To the wedded pair the latter gave all his lauds in I'odunk, 
entailing them to his daughter's children, or to her neai-cst heirs by 
English law. This land Joshua, at his death in ItJTo, willed to his two 
sons, with remainder to his two squaws. His administrators, in con- 
sequence of a ]irior agreement of liis, in liJ(S:2 deeded tho " live-miles 
tract," now Manchester, to the town of Hartfortl. 

The I'odunks, mainly friendly to the English, became di-saffected in 
1G75, and joined Philip in his hopeless attempt to exterminate the 
white men, and few of them ever returned to this neighborhood. At 
this time grim dangers surrounded the young colony. The people 
were ordered into garrisons, — in our borders at Thomas Burnham's in 
Podunk, and at Mr. John Crow's on the meadow hill near the south- 
meadow road The enemy came into Hockanum and sorely wounded 
William Hills, and scouting-partics were sent out to iind the enemy. 
Some of our residents were engaged in the Narragansett war, Obadiah 
Wood receiving a wound. A few only of the Podunks remained upon 
their reservation in 1677, and the Court divided the land between them. 
These after a time sold out their interests, which appear to have been 
wholly in the meadows, and in 1723 the record sjieaks of the last claim- 
ant to their lands De Forest says a fragment of the tribe was living 
on the Hockanum in 1745, but in 17G0 had disa]ipeared, mei-ging into 
the Pequots or the trii>es in tho western part of the ."^tatc. Stories of 
later visits from Indian families, returning for a time to camp in this 
neighborhood, however, remain. The assault on Deerfield in 170-i led 
to renewed precautions against the Indians. Four forts were ordered 
to be built on this side the Great River. Of these, one was erected 
near Mr. William Pitkin's on the meadow hill, looking toward Hart- 
ford ; but it was the subject of no assault. 

The town of Hartford once included in its l)oundaries the territory 
of the present towns of East Hartford and Jfanchcster. Deeds from 
the Indians of all its laml have been ])reserved, excepting of tlie terri- 
tory now covered by East Hartford. A deed of this was jirobably given, 
as allusions to its ])urchase occur in the records of early lay-outs and 
distributions of the land. The history of this territory (long known as 
the " three miles " tract ). ami of the " five miles " ])urchase, made later, 
is included in that of Hartford until 17s3, whm these two .sections were 
made a separate town, with Imuuds extending from the CJreat River 
to the Bolton town line, and known as East Hartford. The original 
boundary of the town of Hartford on this side the river on the .south was 
" att the mouth of Pewter jjott Bi-ooke att the lower side of Hoecano, 
and there to run due east into the Country 3 miles;" and on the north, 
at "the Riverett's mouth [by the Indians called Podanke] that falls 
into the saide greate River of Conectecott, and there the saiil Hartford 
is to runn due east into the Count rey." 

The lands on this side were at first owned in common, the ])roprie- 
tors' interests being proportioned by their share in the expenses of the 



88 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

purchase from the Indians, and by other considerations. In 1672 the 
bounds of the town of Hartford were extended eastward five miles to 
include the tract bought from " Joshua Sachem." It was voted to divide 
this tract among the inhabitants, " according to the disbursements of 
ech person paid in list of 1682 ; " but a general division was not made 
until 1731, the lands lying mostly in common until that time. Early 
use was made of the meadow and the three-mile purchase on this side 
the river, and the hay and grain were carried across in boats, or in 
carts at times of low water. The meadow-lands were divided prior 
to 1640, for meadow and plough lots, and the owners were ordered 
to set bounds in them in July of that year. The land was divided into 
two sections, known as the north and the south sides, by a line drawn 
east and west near the present Hockanum Bridge. The land south 
of this line was reckoned worth more than that north of it by a ratio 
of 105 to 100. The southern part of the town was generally known 
as Hockanum, the northern as Podunk. Those in Hartford who 
lived north of the Little River shared in the northern division, and 
those who lived south of it in the southern division ; although some 
of the latter, owing to the smaller quantity of meadow in Hocka- 
num, took meadow in the northern division. Special grants were 
given to jioor men and others, not proprietors ; and large grants of 
timber-lands were made, to encourage the building of mills upon the 
streams. 

Pounds were established here prior to 1641, and hogs were re- 
stricted from running at large on this side the river. A fence was 
appointed along the meadow swamp next the woodland in 1644. 
A vote dated Jan. 11, 1640, ordered a division of the three-mile 
tract, extending from the meadow hill eastward ; but it was not for- 
mally divided until June 12, 1666. The order of the division was 
determined by lot, the first lot lying next to Windsor bounds, and so 
successively. The number of north-side distributees was sixty-six, — 
their shares ranging from five hundred and ninety acres down to twelve 
acres, their division going " to the divident lyne between the north 
and south side of the river." The land south of the river, before 
division, was owned by sixty -five proprietors, their propoi-tions ranging 
from two hundred acres down to four. After the allotment, many of 
the proprietors sold their shares; a number, probably, to those who 
had already settled on the land. 

One of the first roads laid out through the town ran along the edge 
of the meadow hill, fording the Hockanum at a convenient point not 
far from the mouth of the present Gulf. Part only of this road is 
in use to-day. The meadow hill commands a view of Hartford, and 
was the site of most of the earlier houses. A road from the Connecti- 
cut River crossed the meadows to the above-described road, and is 
the present north-meadow road. Prom the earliest settlement a road 
extended northward through the meadows to Podunk and Windsor. 
Main Street was laid out in 1670. It had no bridge over the Hocka- 
num until the year 1700. Others of our principal roads were not for- 
mally made town roads until a later date, though many of them were 
early used. The road eastward to the mills (now Burnside Avenue) 
was not laid out until 1722, but was used from the first settlement. 
Silver Lane was laid out in 1728, but was a thoroughfare earlier. The 



EAST HARTFORD. 89 

ronnccticut River was crossed by a fcny, leased in 1681 to Thomas 
(";id\veli, and a scale of ])rici"s established. 

Tlie dates of the earliest houses upon this side the Connecticut River 
are uncertain. Among the most pniminent of the early settlers were 
the following : — 

Ricliard Risley, of Ilockanum, wlio died in 1648. The inventory of 
his ]iro|K'rty ajipears in the records of the colony. 

William Hills, of Ilockanum. He was assaulted and wounded by 
the Indians in Ilockanum in ItlTo. 

Edward Andrews settled in Hockaiuim, near the mouth of the river 
of that name, about l(3o7. 

Thomas .Spencer built on the north corner of Main and ilill streets. 
He died in ItiST. 

Mr. John Crow, one of tiic largest land-owners, and one of the few 
who had '• Mr." attached to his name, lived on the meadow iiill, near 
the south-meadow road. He was one of the settlers of Hadlcy in 1G86. 

William Pitkin, progenitor of the Pitkin family — so jirominent in 
tlie affairs of the colony — settled on the meadow hill, north of the 
present railroad, about l(i50. 

Tiiomas Burnliam was made a freeman in 1657. He practised before 
the courts as an attorney. Ho settlc<l in Podunk. 

John Hidwell, a partner of Joseph IJuU, and with him owner of a 
saw-mill at Burnside, probably settled here aljout 1(569. 

William Warren, who lived on Main Street, below the Hockanum, 
was made a freeman in 166.5. 

Sergeant Samuel Gaines ajJiiears on the records in 1667. 

Lieutenant John Meakins came here before 1669. 

Richard Case was made a freeman in 1671. Tiie last tliree persons 
bought laml of the original grantees. 

Thomas Trill, a soldier of tlie Narragansett war, was the first person 
buried in our Centre Burying-Ground. 

Obadiah Wood was also a soldier of 1675. His is thehrst stone set 
in the Centre Burying-Ground (1712). 

William Buekland came here before 1678. When the north-meadow 
road was made public 
he lived on it, close 
by the site of the old 
meailow gate. 

James Forbes lived 
in Burnside in 1688. This section was until I860 known as Scotland, 
dei'iviug that name from the Forbes family, whicli was of Scotcli origin. 

William Roberts married the daughter of James Forbes, and added 
land to his wife's property in 1688. He lived on the meadow hill mid- 
way between tli(> bridge road and 
^,-j— j/ . tiie soutli-uu'adow road. 

J \ in cyy-la <- ^yy^ -^ Deacon Timotiiy Cowles appears 

J ^ on the records in 1695. He ]ived 

just south of Gilman's Brook, 

^. ^ < — > ^ on the east side of JIain Street. 

C'l'irfVTl ^^^T^ZMtj-**-*! Deacon John (ioodwin lived 

^ <Xy fi^^n-- ,,^,.,,. „,^. ^^,^.,j„.,. Burying-Ground 

about 1703. 



'^Jl/ir?»^ ^/-^/^«^ 



90 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Lieutenant Thomas Olcott, Jr., settled at Hop Brook (now in Man- 
chester), and lvei)t a hosteh-y there (1711). The Olcotts bought land 
in the three-mile tract shortly after 16G6. 

Deacon Joseph Olmsted (1699) 

/fiPa. f] ^C r/^r~\ tcu-h. ^^^'^^ ^^^ ^^^^ meadow hill at 
im<n^-*^ QJkyy*C>tir<}J^ the northwest ande of Prospect 
-'-' / Street. 

Jonathan Pratt, a tanner (1730), 

// lived on the west side of Main 

^^^n. P tlei^ hoiSe*' ^""^^^^ °^ *^''' """"^ meeting- 

Hezekiah Porter, selectman for 
the east side of Hartford in 1707, lived in Hockanum. 

Nathaniel Stanley (1720) resided in the north part of the town. 
A fnll list of settlers and early inhab- 
itants woidd comprise many other names .,//js>r '0 -^ 
than these, most of them honorably perpet- *^ ^^^ J~CnCviy)^ 
iiated in our town to-day. 

The inhabitants on this side the Great River had a share in the 
ofhces and government of the town of Hartford, and some of our citi- 
zens conspicuously served the colony and 
. the State. Local officers were early ai> 

^\>is'*ri\ CflV^l'Sf pointed on this side as haywards, fence- 
i/^ '-^ ^^ / viewers, surveyors, listers, etc., and from 

about tlie year 1707 they were allowed a 
selectman of their own. In 1749 sign-posts were ordered in the 
towns ; the one placed in the Centre was popularly known as the 
whipping-post, its use for the legal application of the lash being 
remembered by persons now living. 

The town bounds with Windsor (now South Windsor) were in dis- 
pute from 1675 to 1719, when the line was settled, and the heirs of 
Thomas Burnham and William Williams were given three hundred 
acres in the northwest corner of the Five Miles to make good to them 
"what Windsor line had cut off their ujiland lots." 

No burial-place was established on this 
side the Great River imtil Jan. 1, 1710, 
f/yi%/rsjfi±/ ^^"'^cn John Pantry deeded one acre in 
' // ^^ what is now the Centre Burying-Ground 

to the town of Hartford for that purpose. 
The two burj'ing-grounds in Hockanum date from about 1776. 

The petition of the inhabitants asking for the " liberty of a minister" 
among them was dated May, 1694, and in October of that year per- 
mission was given. The society was known as the Third Ecclesiastical 
Society of Hartford, and included all of the town of Hartford on this 
side the Great River, — now the towns of East Hartford and Manches- 
ter. All persons living on this side were to pay their rates toward its 
maintenance. The earliest preserved record of a meeting is of one 
held Dec. 29, 1699, when a committee was appointed " to see about the 
meeting-house" — probably already begun. A rate of threepence in the 
pound was laid, — one penny payable in corn, the rest in work if any 
chose. The meeting-house was built on a little hill which once tilled the 



EAST HARTFORD. 91 

triangle formed by the roads at the north end of the Hockaniim cause- 
way. It was not fnlly conijiU'tcd for several ycai-s. In 1707 a rate of 
£4r> was voted fur " scatioir and sealinu:" the nu'etin^-house, two thirds 
])ay;il)le in timber delivered at the water side of tlie nieetinL'-lionse. In 
1713 galleries were bnilt, and in 1718 fonr green easements ordered for 
the south windows. Tlie strneturc was very plain, and was used until 
about 1740. A minister's house was begun in ItiOO, and a rate of 
,£200 was laid to complete it. It was built on the west side of Main 
Street, not far from the meeting-hon.se. 

A committee was early apjiointed to " dignify the meeting-hou.se" 
by assigning seats to each family accoi'ding t<> dignity, age, or impor- 
tance in the rate-bill. A rate of three halfpennies in the pound was 
laid in lii'.tO, " to satisfy the Rev. John Reed for his ])ains in the min- 
istry among us, and to defray charges about providing for him." The 
following year an invitation to settle was extended to him. This he 
did not acce])t. He afterward jireached at Stratford, and later prac- 
tised law in Boston, and was counted the most celebrated lawyer in 
New England liefore the Revolution. 

The Rev. Samuel Woodijridge, a graduate of Harvard, was ordained 
here March :50, 170.'). His salary was £(>() a year : and the society gave 
him the minister's house and £25 with which to ctimplete it after the 
walls were "•filled u])," on condition that he "cuntinue \\ itli us during 
his life, or that it be not his 

fault if he remove out of the ._ . ^,,*— v 

place." He was a man of abil- ^ / ^^^ /^^/^ //* */ 
ity, anil was honored and be- K^OATU .' VycrQCiOytOi^ t^ 
loved iiy his ]ieople A rate of C^ 

j£0 in addition to his salary 

was voted, payal)Ie in firewood delivered at his door. He preached the 
Election Sermon in 1734. His health became uncertain about the year 
1730, and tlic society declined to pay his salary. This, however, the 
General Assembly directed them to do. He died June 9, 1740, aged 
sixty-three years. During Mr. Woodbridge's pastorate the first meeting- 
house was replaced by a new one. It occupied nearly the exact site of 
the iild i)uilding, and had horse-sheds l)uilt near it on the north, east, and 
southwest siiles. Like its jjredecessor, it was a plain building with green 
blinds, and had neither belfry nor chimney. Stoves (save foot-stoves) 
were not introduced until 1817, when the pipes were run out at the 
windows. The stoves at first gave great annoyance, eom]ilaint being 
made of headaches, and of the warping of the back comi)s of the 
women, until it was discovered that no fire had yet been kindled in 
them. The new meeting-house had gall(>ries ai-ound three sides. At 
the west end was the high antitpie pulpit, with its dome-like sounding- 
board overhead. The floor and gallery were provided with .siiuare, 
box-like pews, — the corner ones over the stairs for the colored slaves 
or servants. The singers sat in front, all around the gallery. The fre- 
quent high water in the Hoekanum valley near the old meeting-house 
made the maintenance of a fmry there on Sundays and lecture-<laya 
necessary, and the society made annual ajipropriations for its support 
for many years. 

Mr. Woodbridgc was succeeded in the ministry by Mr. Eliphalet 
Williams (afterward D.D.). Mr. Williams's pastorate was a long and 



92 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



useful one, extending through iiftv-livc years (1748-1803). He was 
a typical old-time divine, — reverenced by the old and regarded with 
something like awe by the young. A printed sermon on " the late 
terrible earthqualve " (1755), and other literary work of his, have been 

preserved. He preached the Elec- 

p. t I jij A . ' tion Sermon in 1769, and in Octo- 

Z^-^^^^^ yV iXXj-'t.-f'r^^ ber of that year the funeral sermon 

' of (xovernor Pitkin, before the 

assembled dignitaries of the colony. His house, — large, unpainted, 

gambrel-roofed, — near the site of the old meeting-house, still stands, a 

fine example of the better class of houses of a hundred and thirty years 




DR. WILLIAMS S HOUSE. 



ago. Mr. Andrew Yates was ordained as colleague of Dr. Williams in 
1801. He Avas " a man of wide learning, of strong sense, of simple, 
loving heart." He was a warm friend of the childi'cn, who in his day 
were gathered once a year and reviewed upon the Westminster Cate- 



cY/^rt^c^^ 



^'Z.C^'?ny'^X£2cJ 






chism, then taught in the schools. Mr. Yates was a sturdy opponent 
of the use of intoxicating liquors at a time when most ministers were 
liabitually tolerant of them. At a ministers' meeting at his house 
he set out decanters as usual, saying, "Brethren, here is rum. gin. 



EAST HARTFORD. 93 

brandy, lanclamim, — all poison. Help yourselves ! " lie was dis- 
missed in 1814. to return to the profes.sorshi]) which he had previously 
held in L'ninn Colleire. 

Various " supplies " liUed the pulpit until the settlement of Mr. 
Jov II. Fairehild in 181t'>. He was dismissed in 1827. Mr. Asa Mead, 
a frraduate of Partmouth College, was settled here in August, 1830. 
He died in October, 1831. 

Tiie Rev. Samuel ."^jtring, D.D., came here in January, 1833. and min- 
istered faithfully until December, 1860, when his ill health leii liini to 
re-sign. Afterward the society voti'd him an annual sum for a num- 

t)er of years, and held him closely in ^ — . 

tlieir art'ection with a regard wliich his /cr>' /> /Z^ ' 
death, in 1877, did not annul. Dr. Bur- 'JCUyl^u,cC' xJ^^/H^^^ 
ton said of him, "A model preacher, ^/ 

whom to have heard was a pleasant and ^ 

abiding remembrance." Early in Dr. Spring's ministry the society built 
tiieir present meeting-house at the head of the Bridge Road. In 1876 
it was injured by fire, and the interior was remodelled. A tower clock 
and new l)ell were presented to the society in 1878 by Mr. Albert C. 
RayniDud. 

Mr. Theodore J. Holmes succeeded Dr. Spring in the ministry in 
1861. and served until 1872. From 1863 to 1865 he was absent as 
chaplain of the First Regiment Connecticut Cavalry, Mr. Walker 
preaching during his absence. Mr. Holmes was dismis.sed, to accept 
a call to a church in Brooklyn, New York. Mr. Frank H. Buffum 
was .settled here in 1873 and dismiss(>d in 1876. After him the 
Rev. Theodore T. Munger lilb'd the pulpit for a little more than 
a year. Mr. Richard Meredith was installed in Aiu'il, 1878, and 
resigned in 1883. 

The inhabitants of the Five Miles (now Manchester) were released 
in 1748 from so much of their minister's rate as would procure them 
preaching at home for the winter season. In 1763 they petitioned to 
be made a separate society ; but owing to disagreements the petition 
was not granted till nine years later. Their further history is con- 
nected with that of Manchester. 

Toward the close of the last century the Ba])tists and the Method- 
ists began to ol)tain footing here, and drew some away from the Con- 
gregational churches. Meetings were held at Esquire Elisha Pitkin's 
iiouse, — called for its hospitality the ministers' hotel, — at Benjamin 
Roberts's, and elsewhere. Inhabitants living in tlie old .societies became 
exem]>t from tlieir rates by i)resenting certificates showing that they 
liol|)od sii|)port the gospel among the new sects. The defection of the 
(lid church-members, caused \\\\x\\s by the hard theology of Dr. Wil- 
liams, aroused a feeling of deep solicitude in his mind, and he pub- 
lished, with honest faitli in its etlicacy, a pamidilet dialogue. " Sophro- 
nistes : persuading people to reverence the ordinances of (ioil in the 
teacliings of their own Pastors. Hartford : 179")." 

The Hockanum Methodist Episcopal Church olitained laml for 
its jiresent meeting-house in 1837. Its people became a separate 
charge in 1846. The church edifice has lately l»een cnlargeil and 
imjiroved. 

The fir.st meeting-house for the Mrlbndi.st Episcoi)al Chuivli in 



94 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Scotland, now Burnside,i was a ]ilain unpninted stnictui-e, built prior to 
1834. It stood just east of Mr. William Hanmer's house. The present 
meeting-house occupies a site given by Mr. George Goodwin. 

The Baptists held meetings for a time in the old school-house in 
South Burnside. There is now no church of this order in town. 

Grace Church was organized in Burnside in 1854 as a Protestant 
Episcopal Society. A little chapel south of Mr. Agis Easton's house 
was fitted up and used. Meetings were afterward held in Elm Ball, 
on Main Street, and the society was reorganized as St. John's Parish. 
The stone church on Main Street was begun in 1867, and completed 
under the fostering care of Mr. Jolni J. McCook, its present rector. 

St. Mary's Church includes all the Roman Catholics in this town 
and a part of South Windsor. It became a separate parish in 1873, 
and its first service was held in Elm Hall. Its church edifice on Main 
Street was completed in 1877. 

The Hockanum Ecclesiastical Society (Congregational) is a recent 
organization. Part of its members were once connected with the old 
First Society. Its meeting-house was completed in 1877. 

Memorial Hall, a commodious chapel built by Mr. William G. Corn- 
stock, on Locust Hill, north of his residence, is freely open to jaiblic 
use for religious purposes without regard to sect or class. 

Tlie inhabitants living on the east side of the Great River, in the 
town of Hartford, unsuccessfully petitioned the General Assembly to 
set them off as a separate town as early as 1726. The petition was 
renewed from time to time until January, 1783. In October of that 
year it was granted. Tlie reasons given for asking for town ])rivilcges 
were the six, eight, and ton miles of travel necessary to many of the 
people, and the difficulty of crossing the Great River at some seasons 
in order to exercise their privileges as freemen, and the very res])ecta- 
ble number of their population, — 2,000 in 1774, with a property list of 
£19,000. The total population of Hartford at tliat time was 5,031. 
The area incorporated was bounded west on the Connecticut River, 
east by Bolton town line, north by East Windsor town line, and south 
by Glastenbury town line. The new town was to share with Hartford 
in all moneys due, stock on hand, if any, and in debts owing, and in the 
poor belonging to the old town. To it also was granted the privilege 
of keeping one half the ferry across the river, subject to the ]3leasure 
of tiie General Assembly. The officers of the old town, dwelling in 
the new, were to continue in their respective offices until others were 
chosen. The two selectmen then living on this side (Daniel and Rich- 
ard Pitkin), with an assistant, or a justice of the peace, wei'e to warn 
the inhabitants to meet on the second Tuesday of December, 1783, at ten 
o'clock, A.M., in the meeting-house in the First Society, to choose town 
officers, and to transact any other business proper to the town-rneeting. 

The Hon. Colonel William Pitkin was chosen moderator of the meet- 
ing. Daniel Pitkin, Richard Pitkin, and Captain Samuel Smith were 

1 Thu namo of Scotland was changed to Burnside in 1862, wlien it was made a post-station, 
there being ah-eady one Scotland in the State. The name was chosen because of its perti- 
nence, signifying in Scotch a bwiis side, and was suggested by Jliss Susan Goodwin, after- 
ward Mrs. Henry L. Goodwin. The earlier name was given to it by tlie Forbes settlers, who 
were of Scotch descent. 



EAST HARTFORD. 95 

chosen selectmen ; and Jonatlian Stanley, town clerk and treasurer, — 
offices which he heki for eisrhteen years. 

This first town-nieetinff was held in the old mectinir-liouse which 
stood near the north end of the IIocl<anuni causeway, and town-meet- 
ings have been helil in tiie meeting-houses of the First Society ever 
since. In 1813, and afterward, they alternated here with tiio mceting- 

house in Orford Parish (now Manchester Centre). When the present 
meeting-house was built, the town gave the society one thousand dol- 
lars for the permanent use of the basement for town and electors' 
meetings. The manner of voting in the early meetings was by a ris- 
ing vote upon all questions. Representatives were separately chosen by 
ballot in 1787. P'roni lSo7 liotli were voted for on one ballot. 

The number of pau}iers in our town has always been comparatively 
small: still, there has constantly existed the inevitaljie necessity of 
providing for the incompetent and the unfortunate. In 1787 the town 
voted to build a house for its poor on land hought of Daniel Pitkin. 
Thirteen years later this house was sold, and the poor ordered " let out" 
to the persons " that will keep them cheapest where they will be com- 
fortably provided for."' In 18:^3 the present towu-farm in Hockanum 
was ])urchased for a work-house and jioor-honsc combined. A fire origi- 
nated in the " tramps' room" in 1877, destroying the house. A com- 
modious building has since Ijcen erected on its site. A ])est-house was 
built on this side the Great River in 1761, on land of John Goodwin, 
three fourths of a mile east of Main Street, on what is now known as 
Pock-IIouse Hill. Later a hospital was built upon the same site by 
Dr. Hall and Dr. Flagg, who had the town's permission (September, 
17'Jl) to " set up inoculation for [with] the small-pox." 

The town's share in the ferry over the Connecticut has been to it a 
source of litigation and troulile. In the early days it was often some- 
thing of a tax to the people to maintain it. Afterward it became a 
source of revenue, the town selling the privilege at vendue. In 1839 
it was voted to loan at interest the suriilus received. In 1805 there 
were two ferries, one probably crossing to Ferry Street and one to 
State Street, in Hartford. The boats were run by horses working in 
treadmills on board the boats. 

The Hartford Bridge Company was incorjiorated in 1808, its charter 
stipulating tliat "nothing in said act shall now or hereafter injure said 
[ferry] franchise." Its unsuccessful etl'orts to buy the privilege of the 
towns, however, were followed by its procm-ing the passage of an act 
suppressing it in 1818. The town persisted in urging its claims imtil, 
in 183tj, the right to keep the ferry was restored to it. The Bridge 
Company secured its suppression again in 1841. The town oiitained a 
fresh grant of it in 1842, when the company carried the matter to the 
courts. The decision was that the new grant of the ferry to the town 
was in violation of the State's contract with the 15ridge Company in 
1818, which abolished the ferry ; and the amount of damages awarded 



96 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



was fl2,363.36, which the town had to pay. Acts have since been 
passed to provide for the purchase of the bridge and causeway by the 
neighboring towns, but as yet with small result. 



"^ 




"^— -»~ UlBJJ)WI4ili| II'' ' " 



111 {'''>llllil/SA, 




THE HAKTFORD BRIDGE. 



Prior to 1708 there were no public schools on the east side of the 
Great River in Hartford. In that year the Ecclesiastical Society peti- 
tioned the General Court to allow them to improve their part of the 
school rate among themselves for a writing and a reading school. 
Two years later the Rev. Samuel Woodbridge, Mr. Samuel Wells, and 
Mr. William Pitkin were appointed to hire a schoolmaster and to im- 
prove the school money. A school-house was ordered " built and set 
up in y'^ most convenient place between y* meeting-house and y" house 
of David Forbes," — a little way north. 

Two school-houses were established in 1718, — the north one on 
Main Street, a little south of the lane that led to Deacon Joseph Olm- 
sted's, now Prospect Street. It was sixteen by eighteen feet, " besides 
the chimney space." The one south of the Hockanum was sixteen by 
sixteen feet. The master's time was divided between the two schools, 
" according to the inhabitants from an east and west line from the 
bridge on Hockanum River," and but one teacher was employed for 
many years, even when the mmiljer of places for schools was increased. 
In 1721 the schools cost the society £9 12s. 4d. A master was hired 
for five months, a dame for the other six months of the school year. 
For a time the parents of the childi'cn jiaid a share of their tuition and 
furnished the wood ; in 1730 the society assumed all the expenses, 
voting for that purpose £22 5s. 6(7. in 1731. 

A school was first allowed in Scotland (now Rurnside) in 1735, and 
in 1751 its school-house was ordered set up " in tlic Centre between 
the house of John Bidwell and Timothy Spencer on the country road." 



EAST HARTFORD. 97 

The second scliDol-housc, in what is now the Centre District, was 
built near tiie moeting-house in 1748. Tiiis year it was also voted that 
the schools on JIain Street be divided into tiiree parts as nearly as 
mijrht be. A school was granted at the north end of the town between 
Oilman's Brook and .John Oilnian's honso in 1750 : and the following 
year one near the Olcotts ami Sinionses on IIu]) JJrook, in the Five 
Miles. On tiiis last date (ITol) changes were made in the sites of the 
schools heretofore established, and four were ordered on Main Street, 
as follows : one at Ilockanum, north of Pewter-I'ot Brook on the west 
road (Hockanum District) ; one near Silver Lane (Second South Dis- 
trict) ; one near Bidwell's Lane (now Burnsidc Avenue) ; one north of 
Oilman's Brook. The two divisions north of the river were each to 
take one half of the old sihool-house on that sitlc, and th(! two divi- 
sions south of the river were to divide the old school-house there 
between them. At the same meeting four additional places for schools 
were designated in the eastern part of the town and in the Five Miles. 
The society was divided under the new law of 1766 into districts, — 
four on Main Street and one in Burnside, — which, under a commitr 
tee ajjpointed by the society, managed their own affairs. A distinct 
district was fonnrd of the southeast part of the present town in 1768. 
This was divided into the Southeast and South Middle Districts in 
1857. In 1779 the society divided the two districts nortli of the Hock- 
anum into three districts, — now the North, Second North, and Centre, 
— the latter until 1795 including the present Meadow District. Long 
Hill District, in the northeast corner of the town, was set off in 1819. 
In 1837 it was made a union district with District No. 6 of South 
Windsor. 

• The schools were lirst suiicrvised by the School Society in 1796. It 
was identical with the old Ecclesiastical Society, except in name, hut 
was formed for the purpose of receiving the income of our present 
State school fund, and its records were kept separate from those of 
the old society. It yearly appointed the school committee, as the old 
society had done, until 1839, when the districts were made corpora- 
tions, and chose their own ofHcers. Then it liad a general supervision of 
the schools and their funds until IBotJ, when the school societies were 
dissolved througli the State and the towns assumed their functions. 

An English and Classical School Association was formed about the 
year 1833, and erected the academy building <ui Main Street, a little 
south of Burnsidc Avenue. The school obtained a good patronage at 
first, but prior to 1858 the enteri)rise was abandoned. Among its 
pupils were the Hon. Richard D. Hubbard, since Oovernor of the 
State, and the Rev. I. N. Tarbox, D.D., who has won reputation as a 
writer and poet. 

The Ilockanum and its tributaries, and several smaller streams in 
the present towns of East Hartford and Manchester, furnished a number 
of good water-jiowers, and those were early made use of by the settlers 
in preparing their abundant timber for building, and in grinding their 
grain for food and flax-seed for oil. Large grants of timber were made 
to those who estalilishod mills. William Ooodwin and John Crow set 
up the first saw and grist mill on the north side of the lower fall 
at Rurnside, in 1639. This mill was afterward owned by the Pitkins, 

VOL. II. —7. 



98 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

who also acquired the contiguous sites, aud the locality became known 
as Pitkin's Falls. The Pitkins used a part of the lower fall for a 
fulling-mill, the old grist-mill there having been constantly maintained 
until within a few years. Opposite the grist-mill, on the south end of 
the dam, a mill used first for nail-cutting, but soon afterward as a 
saw-mill, stood from 1808 to 1869. The title of these mills passed to 
George Goodwin & Co. in 1826. They used part of the power for paper- 
making. It is now owned by the Hanmer ct Forbes Company, who 
manufacture manila paper. 

On the middle fall, just east of the above, John Bidwell and Joseph 
Bull erected a saw-mill before 1669. They had a large land-grant, with 
liberty to take timber out of the next commons for the improvement of 
their "mill. This site was used for one or more mills from that date, 
there having been a fulling-mill (owned by the Pitkins) next the l)ridge 
in 1690. In 1784 it was a paper and fulling mill, with a saw-mill just 
below. It passed through several hands, and was wholly given to the 
manufacture of paper before 1851. It is now used for making fine 
writing-papers by the East Hartford Manufacturing Company. 

The site above the Burnside bridge was leased by William Pitkin to 
Thomas Bidwell and others in 1690. They built a saw-mill on the south 
side of the river. This was burned, and the Pitkins erected a saw and 
corn mill in its i)lace. Hudson and Goodwin used it for a paper-mill 
in 1789, an oil-mill standing opposite on the north side of the river. 
The latter had been made into a paper-mill before George Goodwin pur- 
chased both mills in 1815. The south mill has been enlarged, and the 
manufacture of book-paper is now carried on liy F. R. Walker & Son. 

Prior to 1671 Secretary John AUyn had a saw-mill on the fall, a 
mile east of Burnside, and was granted one hundred acres about it, with 
the privilege of taking timber from the commons. Iron-slitting was 
undertaken here in 1747 by Colonel Joseph Pitkin, who had the sole 
privilege in the colony for fourteen years, and the site was known 
as The Forge. Parliament suppressed iron-working in the colonies 
three vears later. By a grim sort of justice the power was turned 
to the "manufacture of gunpowder, to be used against the home govern- 
ment in 1775 and in 1812, and was used at different times for that 
purpose imtil the close of the late Rebellion. After the Revolution, 
William Pitkin, having suffered losses in the manufacture of powder for 
the public use, was given the sole privilege of making snuff in the State 
for fourteen years without taxation. A forging-mill was again estab- 
lished here for a time, and anchors, mill-screws, nail-rods, etc., were 
made. The two guns of tiie old artillery company were cast and bored 
at this mill, — tlie gift of Elisha Pitkin. Esq., to the company. The site 
is now owned by "the Hartford Manilla Company, who have erected 
a large mill for paper-making. 

A saw-mill was set up on Hop Brook (South Manchester) in 1673, 
by Corporal John Gilbert ; and other industries arose on the streams in 
the eastern part of the town, now Manchester. 

Frog Brook, at the south end of the town, has been used for several 
mills. 

Pewter-Pot Brook, north of Frog Brook, was early used for a saw- 
mill, whose site on Main Street was impi-oved for a grist-mill in 1802, 
and is still used for that purpose. On this brook, north of Brewer Lane, 



EAST HARTFORD. 99 

was an oil-mill in 1802. Willow Hrook was once used in nail-nuiking. 
A tannery stood just south of tiiis Itrook on the cast side of Main .Street. 
Other tanneries have heen operated in tliis town ; one of the lar}!;cst wa.s 
establislied by Asaliel Olmsted near the meadow hill nortii of tlie rail- 
road. This was operated, until ahout ISOl.by Selaii XW'bstcr. Ashbel 
Warren and Isaac Lester had a tanmu-y on the north side of ."Silver Lane 
in 1820. Many shoes were then made in this ueigiiborhood, and agents 
were sent to the South to sell them. 

Tiie culture of the Morm multicaulls trees, and the raising of silk- 
worms, assumed a considerable importance in this town about fifty years 
ago, and a number of brecdinu-houses were built. Some silk was pro- 
duced, reeled off by hand, and sent to the mills in Mauslield or South 
Manchester and manufactured. The worms, however, died in great 
numbers ; and wiiile some who sold their trees before failure became 
apparent made comfortable fortunes, the venture proved ruinous to 
most who had engaged in it. 

Hat-making once afforded some business to our townspeojile. A 
factory was situated on Main Street, cast of the old meeting-house site, 
and obtained its power from the Hockiinum, then dammed east of this 
place. Here Imts were made l)y proces.ses ]iatented by the Pitkins, 
mostly for the Southern market. Close to this factory there was once 
a mill for grinding grain and plaster and for (warding wool. 

Seventy-five years ago several clothiers' sliops existed in town, the 
fulling of the goods being done at the Burnside mills. 

Bricks have from the early days been made at various localities. 
A manufactory of watches and silver-ware was built by the Pitkins 
about the year 1834 on the west side of Main Street, soutii of the 
railroad-crossing. In it was made the lirst watch manufactured in 
America. It was burned in 1880. 

Steam, grain, and saw mills once stood on Mill Street, a little way 
from Main. During the Rebellion a stone steam " shoddy " mill was 
erected on Main Street, nortii of the railroad-crossing. Twice ijurned 
out, it was finally aband(jned and removed. 

In the old days, horses, mules, hats, shoes, and produce were shipped 
from landings along the river to the West Indies and coastwise jiorts, 
and sugar, molasses, rum, coffee, and spices brought back. At that 
time many of our citizens followed the seas as captains and traders, and 
i)rougiit back breezy tales of tar-olV lands to our firesides. Through 
them most of our shopmen obtained their stores. 

The city of Hartford now affords a good market for fruit, vegetables, 
etc., and its tobacco warehouses, togetlier with those on tiiis side the 
river, furnish a ready market for tiie e.Kcelleut tobacco that is grown 
in town. 

The town has three post-olTiees. Tliat of Fast Hartford was estab- 
lished in 1800, with Lemuel Wiiite, Ksi]., as postmaster: his oflice 
stood on the site of the present post-ollice. Iloekauum was made a 
posi^station in 1851, Burnside in 1802. 

It has been the fortune of our inland town not to have any of the 
dreadful scenes of war enacted within its borders. Althongli its early 
people shared in the frequent Indian alarms, and maintained garrisons 
aud forts for fear of tiie savages, tliere is but one recorded instance of 



100 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

bloodshed on its territory, — that of the wounding of William Hills at 
Hockanum by an Indian in 1675. Stories of the killing of prowling 
Indians are celebrated in the traditions of some of our old families, but 
nothing rising to the dignity of a border skirmish has a claim upon our 
historian's pen. Yet our citizens did not sit apart from the momentous 
contests of their time ; they organized efficient military companies, and 
on distant fields obtained a lively taste of war. The early necessities re- 
quired every man to be a soldier, and compulsory training was promptly 
enforced. In IGSS the inhabitants on the oast side of the Great River 
were required to meet there as William Hill should appoint, and train 
together on their training-days. This was the first of the annual or 
semi-annual training-days on this side the river : the succession of 
which continued until the adoption of the commutation system in later 
years. At times the musters showed a disorderly gathering of military 
subjects, indifferent to everything except escaping their fine, and given 
often to burlesquing soldiery in shabby clothing, with brooms or corn- 
stalks for muskets, — often barefooted, and with bandaged toes, thus 
winning the name of East Hartford Rag-toes. Again a better spirit 
prevailed, and the companies uniformed themselves and marched with 
shining weapons and showy uniforms to the muster-field. The remem- 
brance of many brilliant field-days on our meadows and on Upper-quag 
plains, and on the field back of Phelps's tavern, are treasured in the 
memory of our older citizens. The military spirit evidenced by the 
local organizations frequently displayed itself on fields of danger. For 
the expedition against Crown Point, in April, 1755, a company was 
organized under Lieutenant-Colonel John Pitkin, comprising eighty- 
three officers and men. It was in the service twenty-eight weeks ; and 
although the fort was not reduced, the expedition resulted in the 
sanguinary defeat of the French and Indians in the battle of Lake 
George. 

In the events which led to the Revolution our people took an active 
interest; and when they heard of the outbreak at Lexington, in April, 
1775, they speedily organized a company of forty-nine officers and men 
under Lieutenant-Colonel George Pitkin, which that month marched to 
Roxbury. Some of these volunteers served with ardor later in the war, 
as did many of our citizens. Of these, a number lost their lives in Ijattle 
or by disease contracted in the service or u})on the pestilent jirison- 
ships at New York ; others served upon the sea. Captain Gideon 
Olmsted, captain of a French privateer, was captured and taken to 
Jamaica. There he was sent aboard the sloop " Active " with a valuable 
cargo for New York, to aid in working the vessel to that port ; but with 
three fellow-prisoners he rose and captured the vessel, and claimed it 
as a prize of war. Count Rochambcau, with his troops, rested here 
when on his way from Newport to join General Washington on the 
Hudson, in June, 1781. His army, 15,000 strong, camped "on the field 
north of Silver Lane. Their stny was marked with much good feeling, 
and was a memorable event for our townspeople, — the " hard money " 
of the French giving the name to Silver Lane. The Count lodged at 
the hospitable mansion of Elisha Pitkin, Esq., while other officers were 
received in other houses. The meeting-house was used as a hospital. 
The French encani]wd here agnin on their return across the State in 
the fall of 1782 ; this time on the meadows north of the north-meadow 



EAST HARTFORD. 101 

road. Scows were impressed by the State for their passage over the 
Coimccticut River, and the sclectineu of the towns were ordered to 
make all necessary jirovisions for them. 

The War of iHl'l called a numlier of our citizens away from their 
homes. The artillery c(jm]jany (Captain Amher.st Reynolds and thirty- 
one men and ollieers) went to New London and served in the forts from 
Augnst 3 to Se])t. 10, 1813. Some of our seafarinj;: citizens assisted 
the Government by privateering enterprises during this wai'. Captain 
Ozias Roberts and Ih-. William Cooley eniliarked under Captain Josiah 
C.riswold, of WetheisCield, in the "" Blockade." It met with little 
success, and was captured by a lu-ig-of-war, and the crew confined 
in a ]irison-slii|) at the IJermudas. Dr. Samuel S]iring, prior to his 
beginning tiie ministry, was a merchant and sea-captain, and was ca])- 
tured liy the Ibitish off Chesapeake Bay, and his vessel bunieil. 

To the calls for troops in the War of the Rebellion (18(51-1805) our 
citizens responded with alacrity, two thirds of the three hundred and 
eleven men furnished going as volunteers, and receiving generous boun- 
ties and assistance for their families from tlic town. The town also 
freely assisted the drafted men to procure substitnt(<s to take the field 
in their places. It expended over •yTO.UUO to 1111 its (luotas under the 
different calls from the President for troojjs, and issued lionds to the 
amount of -§41,700, most of which arc now paid. A fine freestone 
monument stands in the Centre Burying-Ciround, erected in 18G8 to 
tlie memory of those killed in the war. 

This town has few societies. Orient Lodge No. 62, of Free and 
Accepted Masons, was first chartered Sept. 8, 1822. It holds its 
m(>etings in Bigelow Hall, the use of this hall having been given by tlie 
late William Bigelow. 

The Village Improvement Society was chartered in January, 1879. 
It holds in trust the ground known as Raymond Park, until such time 
as the Raymond Lil)rary Association shall be organized, as provided in 
Mr. Albert C. Raymond's will, when the trust is to be transferred to 
that association, to which Mr. Raymond has given $17,000 for the 
establishment of a public library upon the Park. 

To the list of distinguished citizens which our town may claim by 
virtue of their residence upon its soil the Pitkin family has given an 
unusual number of names. 

William Pitkin, progenitor of all of the name of Pitkin in this 
country, was born in Marylcl)one, near London, England, in lOSo. He 
came to Hartford in 1659, and a year ^«^ ^ 

later began school teaching, — being ^j()'(^0' ^' Lir ^ 

thereto encouraged by votes'and grants [jy-^V(AOM\. J-^i r^-m 
of money by the town. He was a])- 

pointed attorney for the colony in 1664. He bought land on the east 
side of the river in 1661, and was one of the most prominent planters. 
He filled many public offices with ability, and was conspicuous and in- 
fluential in the affairs of the colony. He was a member of the General 
Court from 1675 to 1690, except for a short period. His wife was 
Hannah, daughter of Ozias Goodwin. His sister Martha married 
Simon Wolcott, and was ancestress of seven governors. 

His son, the Hon. William Pitkin, a lawyer by profession, like 



102 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 




his father, held important oftices, and was one of the Council of 
the colony from 1697 until his death, a period of twenty-six years. 

He was judge of the 
probate court and of 
the county court; and 
in 1711 was made a 
judge of the Supe- 
rior Court, and in 
1713 its chief justice. 
He owned mill-seats 
on the Hockanum, 
and carried on an 
extensive business, 
transferring it final- 
ly to his sons Wil- 
liam and Joseph. 
His wife was Eliza- 
licth Stanley. 

The Hon. Ozias 
Pitkin, brother of 
the above, was often 
elected to the legis- ' 
lature. He was a 
member of the Coun- 
cil nineteen years. 

Governor William 
Pitkin, son of Wil- 
liam Pitkin (2d), 
was brought up in 
business by his fa- 
ther, who also gave 
him the benefit of 
his knowledge of 
public affairs. He rose, by force of demonstrated capacity, from the 
office of town collector (1715) to the cliief magistracy of the colony 
(1766), holding that office until his death, in 1769. Captain of the 
trainband in 1730, he ^ 

became colonel of the /, ' J/O' rt^// •,/ 

ernor Pitkin was tall, of 

commanding appearance, and highly affable and pleasant in his inan- 

, ner." He was a strong ad- 
.^ ' C^^A^ ' ^J Il't/i~ vocate of colonial rights, and 

0\T.ClJ^ ^y/7\^^^ BrnVj his firm stand against^ the 

tuipo])nlar measures of Great 
Britain secured for him a majority over Governor Fitch, so great, says 
the " Connecticut Gazette," ^^—-^.^^ry^ 

that the votes were not count- jf^y^ ^^^^'"'^ ^ ••s^ 
ed. In the administration of ^^^^^^ €,/^-<!^^si**>^i*r»«^^^^ 
justice he began as justice of *^ 

the peace and of the quorum in 1730. He presided as judge of the 



MRS. MAKY LORD PITKIN. 



I'AINTISG IN WADSWORTH 




MAJOR SAMUEL PITKIN 




EAST HARTFORD. 103 

county court from 1735 to 17o2 ; was clioscn judge of the Superior 
Court in 1741, and chief justice aud deiuity-govcrnor in 17o4. His 
wife was Marv Woodhridge. 

Colonel John I'ltkin, 
brother of the (iuveriior, v >-^^ 

was lientenant-cf)loncl of u ,%/^ ^y--A/r- en "^ 

(lie First Heginient, raised Y^tyruTL x/tZA^VtZ^ t^^ 

for the expedition against /7 ^/ 

Crown Point and Canada f/ 
in 1755. ^ 

Colonel AVilliam Pitkin, son of Governor Pitkin, was major of the 
First Regiment of colonial forces raised for the expedition against 

Canada under Cenoral Abereronil)ie in 

j^/^J^^A^t^— 1758. He was a member of the Council 

y/y ^^^'^^Xy^iy*-^^ "^ Safety during the greater part of the 
Revolutionary War. In 1784 he was 
elected to the Congress of the United States. A dctei-mined and ener- 
getic patriot, he took part in a very interesting period of our history, 
and as a business man was largely connected with manufacturing 
enterprises in East Hartford. 

Colonel George Pit- 
kin, son of Governor Pit- /^_ ^ ^^^3^^^^*^^ 

kin, was prominent in ^^--JT Q^^^^.^'^yy^^^^ 
the militia of tlie State. 
In 1775 lie was com- 
mandant of the Fourth 
Regiment of minute-men, and marched with his eommand tn Roxi)ury 
during the siege of Boston. /p /"Ti 

Major Samuel Pitkin was town clerk ^^'^^ A ^Hx^ 

and treasurer for thirty-live years, and ^^^^^^-i-i^i^ZXA^^^^^rz^ 
rejircsented his town in the Icgislatui-o thirteen times. 

^^^ (Jeneral Samuel L. Pitkin, son of 

/'^/y / JIajor Samuel Pitkin, was a graduate 

/' P >C./-^^r of AVest Pdint ; he rose from the local 

^^(Z^l/^ JW{:i}ri/ »i'l't=i»y e.,mpany to the office of 

major-general (First Division, 1837), 
and two years later was Adjutant-tieneral of the State. 

The Hon. Colonel Joseph Pitkin, brother and partner of Governor 
Pitkin, held many imi)ortant ofliees, and showed unusual ability in 
promoting and extending the manufacturing enterprises of the town. 
Ca])tain of the trainband in 1738, he was raised to the colonelcy of the 
B'irst Regiment in 1751. He ^_. 

was a justice of the peace and y > y) ' y/^* 

a judge of the county court, C^^WJ^ c^^^^^^T" 

and rej)rcsentative in the co- y^/ix^ 

lonial legislature for twenty y ' 

years. His first wife was Miss r 

Jfary Lord, ilaugliter of Richard Lord. Esq., and great-granddaughter of 
•loliu Ilayiies, the lirst governor of the colony. His second wife was 
Miss Eunie(> Chester, daughter of the Hon. Colonel John Chester, of 
Wethcrslield. His third wife was Madam Eunice Law, widow and fifth 
wife of His Excellency Jonathan Law, of Milfonl, once governor of 




104 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COITN^TY. 



Connecticut. This third marriage of Colonel Pitkin was also the third 
marriage of Madam Law, her first husband having been Samuel An- 
drew, Esq., of Milford. She was the only daughter of the Hon. John 
Hall, of Wallingford. Colonel Pitkin's house, built about 1724, still 
stands on Main Street, just north of the railroad-crossing, in a some- 
what altered condition. He died Nov. 3, 1762, aged sixty-seven years. 

Elisha Pitkin, Esq., son of Colonel Joseph and Mary Lord Pitkin, 
was largely engaged in trade and manufacturing, and had a store beside 
his residence, near the old meet- 
ing-house. He was graduated at 
Yale in 1753, and married Han- 
nah Pitkin, daughter of Samuel 
and Hannah Buel Pitkin, and niece of the Rev. Dr. Samuel Buel, of 
East Hampton, Long Island. They had eleven children. His house 
■was noted for its hospitality', and known not only as the " ministers 



-^^i^^^^ 



WWW 





ilhl^l ^.r~ia^c 



I* i^f^t 



THE ELISHA PITKIN HOUSE. 



hotel," but as one of the popular places where the people passed their 
gossipy Sunday noonings, and replenished their foot-stoves at its ample 
kitchen hearth. Under its spacious roof Count de Eochambeau lodged 
during the stay of the French army here. For many years Mr. Pitkin 
was prominent as a trial justice, and his judgments were firm and 
usually unquestioned. But he was not above a bit of humor now and 
then. A family named Evans became so notorious for petty crimes 
that their neighborhood was dubbed Pirate Hill. A fresh culprit was 
brought one day before 'Squire Pitkin, and, as a preliminary, told to 
give his name. He answered, " Evans." " Guiltv, then ! "" said the 
justice. In East Hartford they still say of an offender with a bad name 
and small chance of acquittal, " His name is Evans, and he has got to 
go." Mr. Pitkin died in 1819, aged eighty-six years. 



y 



EAST HARTFORD. 106 

General Shiibael Griswold, a merchant of this town, was a man 
of much natural ability, and well fitted to take a leading part in public 
atTairs. lie was town ropre- 

scntative twentv-four times be- ^^ .^^^--T"^ 

twcen 1794 and 1824, and O , ( Cly -7>j 

honorably active in military C2-^tU^C^/i-^ Y^C-^^i^<^C/ 
matters. ^^ 

Colonel Jonatiian Wells, of Hockanum, was uselully employed in 
the militia durinir the Revolution. He was apjjointed to committees 

of supply and inciuirv, and in 1776 
C^S-Tzu^CT^i^ f<^ was given the command at New 
^^^ Londiin. droton, and ^tonington. 

The late lion. Richard D. Hub- 
bard, uf Hartford, was once a resi- 
dent of this town, and a student at its academy. He represented the 
town in the legislature in 1842 and 1843. 

Henry Howard Brownell, distinguished as a poet, and especially for 
his stirring " War Lyrics," written while serving as ensign under 
Admiral Farragut in his famous naval fights during the late war, was 
a resident of this town. His brother, Clarence M. Brownell, M.D., 
died in 1862, while exploring the source of the White Nile. 

Anthony Dumond Stanley, son of Martin and Catharine Van Gars- 
beck Stanley, of this town, was graduated at Yale College in 1830. 
He was a tutor in that college for four years, and filled with signal 
ability the Professorship of Mathematics for seventeen years. A man 
of many brilliant ipialitics, he won the love and esteem of all who knew 
him. He died ilarch 16, 1853, at the age of forty-three years. 

Denison Olmsted, son of Nathaniel Olmsted, and a native of this 
town, was also a graduate of Yale College (1813), and was afterward 
Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy in that institution. 
The text-books of which he was the author were widely used. He died 
May 13, 1859. 

The public-houses of a town arc closely connected with its history. 
They furnish a meeting-place for the dignitaries, and for the populace 
upon occasions of connuon interest. In them were held the festive 
gatherings, the political conferences and primary meetings, and in front . 
of them usually assembled the military subjects to be put through their 
annual training. The halting-place of stages and of travellers, they 
were the centres of gossip and intelligence from the outer world, and 
here the villagers gathered to ab.sorb and carry away the latest informa- 
tion. Here too, perchance, they paid homage to the occasional distin- 
guished guest who tarried for the night. 

The (iencral Court early recognized the necessities of strangers who 
'' are straightened for want of entertainment,'" and ordered " ordina- 
ries" to be kept in the towns by .some " sutlicieut inhabitant." 

The first ordinary mentioned (1648) on this side of the river was 
kept by John Sadler, in Hocka- 
num, on the country road toward 
New London. 

In 1710 Philip Smith was 
given liberty to keep a public-house, and probably its site was on tlu 



f^htU^, s^i K 



106 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

meadow hill near the south-ferry road, where storm-bound or flood- 
delayed passengers would be grateful for its shelter. 

Mr. Thomas Olcott was licensed a year later to keep a house of 
entertainment at Hop Brook, in Manchester. 

Benjamin's Tavern was a noted and " newsy " stage-post during the 
Revolution. It stood on the north corner of Main and Orchard streets. 

Later, Woodbridge's (afterwai-d Well's) Tavern, on the east side of 
Main Street, became the chief hostelry. In 1817 President Monroe 
lodged here. The President was called upon by General Griswold and 
most of our first citizens, while outside the drum-and-fife corps of the 
artillery company made the air throb and thrill with a lively serenade. 
To his callers the President was very gracious, declaring, among other 
things, that our street elms were the finest he had seen. 

The Phelps Tavern (first established by Richard Goodwin), once 
standing on the south corner of Mill and Main streets, came into vogue 
a little later. Here General Lafayette halted with his escort in 1824, 
and passed through its portal, upon his crutches, for a short rest. 

Pitkin's Tavern was maintained for many years on the bank of 
the Connecticut, near the feriy, where belated travellers might find 
shelter. 

The present hotel in the meadow was once kept by Joseph Pantry 
Jones, an old captain of our infantry company, and was a popular resort 
during the field-days of the militia upon the meadows. 

Trip])'s Tavern, midway on the Bridge Road, with its once famous 
punches, and the Jacksonian vigor of its politics, is still well remem- 
bered, though in other liands its ancient character is lost. 

Many other public-houses liave afi'orded entertainment to the passing 
stranger, and places of evening resort to the bibulous or gossipy citizen. 
Among these was one by Levi Goodwin (about 1800), at the junction 
of the main streets, south of Gilman's Brook, — all the scenes of old-time 
gatherings, of stirring interest at the time, but now as remote as the 
glow of the tavern hearth-fires, which no longer, as of old, warm the 
genial flip-iron to dissipate the late comer's chill. 




IX. 
EAST WINDSOR. 

BY THE REV. IXCREASE N. TARBOX, D.D. 

EAST WINDSOR was not incorporated as a separate townsliip until 
tlie year 1768 ; but for more tiian one liunilred and tliirty years 
before that date events had been shaping themselves toward its 
existence. The town of East Windsor existed in embryo from 1630, 
when a company of people, one hundred and forty in numl)er, organized 
into a church at Plymouth, England, under the pastoral care of 
Mr. Joim Warham and Mr. John Maverick, set sail for the New World. 
Settling first hi Dorchester, Mass., and remaining there six years, the 
major ])art of them then removed and ])lanted the town of Windsor, 
Conn. The territory embraced in this ancient township was some twelve 
miles square, divided nearly equally by the Connecticut River. The first 
settlers located themselves on the west bank of the river. But the 
fields on the eastern side were fair and fertile, and were destined ere 
long to be occupied ; and so, in due time, the town of East Windsor 
came into existence. 

According to ancient tradition, the first man in Windsor who ven- 
tured to go over and build his house upon the eastern shore was John 
Bissell, who is believed to be the ai'.eestor of all persons in this coun- 
try bearing his family name. Years passed on, and the settlements 
on the easterly side of the river advanced slowly. Indians abounded 
in all that region ; and though these river Indians were generally 
friendly and peaceful, yet there were warning signs and tokens which 
made families fearful about taking up their residence at points remote 
from the main .settlement. Indeed, it was not until after King Philip's 
War (167.5-1676), when the Indian pride was thoroughly luunbled,tliat 
there was any general movement to occupy the fertile meadows and 
u))lands skirting the eastern banks of the river. 

In the year 1680 there went over a family from the western to the 
eastern side of the river, that proved, in after years, to be one of the 
utmost importance. Tiiis was the household of Simon Wolcott, con- 
sisting of himself and wife and nine children, of whom the youngest 
was Roger, then an infant a year old. Simon Wolcott was hira.self 
the youngest son of Ilonry Wolcott, the founder of the Wolcott family 
upon these shores. Tlioro was no man connected with the Windsor 
plantation of higher family rank and social standing, according to the 
current English ideas, than Henry Wolcott; and as all the peojile of 
the plantation were then fresh over from England, the English ideas 
of honor were in full force. Simon Wolcott was only five years old at 
the time of his father's coming to this country, in 1630. He was left 



108 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

behind in England with his two sisters, and these three joined their 
kindred in Windsor about the year 1G40, wlien Simon must have been 
fifteen years old. He was first married to Joanna Cook, in March, 
1657. She died in the month of April following. The facts connected 
with his second marriage were romantic and peculiar. In the year 
1659 a gentleman of standing and character came over from England 
and settled in Hartford. His name was William Pitkin. Two years 
later his sister. Miss Martha Pitkin, came from England to make him 
a visit, expecting, after a little stay, to return to her own country. She 
was then twenty-two years of age, attractive in her person, of accom- 
plished manners and fine culture. The wise men and women of the 
Connecticut plantations put their heads together to contrive a plan by 
which she might be permanently detained upon these shores. In the 
superb volume recently published, entitled the " Wolcott Memorial," 
there are a few sentences on page 53 from the pen of Dr. Thomas 
Robbins the antiquarian, which tell the story thus : — 

" This girl put the colony in commotion. If possible she must be detained ; 
the stoclc was too valuable to be parted with. It was a matter of general consul- 
tation, what young man was good enough to be presented to Miss Pitkin. Simon 
Wolcott, of Windsor, was fixed upon, and, beyond expectation, succeeded in 
obtaining her hand." 

The youngest of the nine children who were the fruit of this marriage 
was, as already stated, Roger Wolcott, born Jan. 4, 1679, of whom more 
will be said later. 

By the year 1694 the people living on the east side had become so 
numerous that they had prevailed (after some previous ineffectual at- 
tempts) in obtaining leave of the General Court to establish separate 
worship. This liberty was granted May 10, 1694, in answer to a peti- 
tion signed by forty-four men, 
C^ .*/ ^^ ^ 4 „ ^.^ inhaljitants upon the eastern 
^awHfi Qv^ijf^ ^Byi^yr- side of the river. Some of the 

leading names upon this peti- 
tion were Nathaniel Bissell, Samuel Grant, Samuel Rockwell, Thomas 
Stoughton, John Stougliton, Simon Wolcott. Permission being thus 
given for the establishment of a 

separate religious society on the •^ ^ L .^^t ■ j^f ftifPi^/ 
east side of the river, which ter- ^^^^J^SIA- P JJ J */A-^ 

ritory then went under the gen- 
eral name of Windsor Farme, the services of the Rev. Timothy Edwards 
were secured in the November following, and he commenced his labors 
yf> M among this scattered people. Before bcgin- 

t-Hm7t lU^i // im\(f his ministerial work he had been united 

CT o/'^j^^ttoTL in marriage, Nov. 6, 1694, to Esther Stod- 
^■^ dard, daughter of the Rev. Solomon Stoddard, 

of Northampton, and granddaughter of the Rev. John Warham, the 
first minister of Windsor. Thus began a ministry which in many 
respects was one of the most notable in the whole history of New 
England. 

Timotliy Edwards was the son of Richard Edwards, of Hartford. 
He was born May 14, 1669, and was graduated at Harvard College in 
the class of 1691, witli a very high rank as a scholar. His father'built 



EAST WINDSOR. 109 

for him a dwcllinG;-liouso winch was unusually costly and substantial for 
that period, and which was standing in the early years of the present 
century. This house stood less than a mile south of what is known as 
East Windsor Hill. The families to which ^^.^ 
Mr. Edwards ministered were scattered upon ^ji^rtiv' [otjaS^j', 
one long winding path a little way back ' 

from the Connecticut meadows, which reached from the Ilartlurd town 
line, four miles below his home, to a nearly equal distance above. This 
road, which at the first was only a rude bridle-path, was gradually 
enlarged and improved, as the years passed on, until it came to be 
known as The Street, — a name which still continues in common use, 
and which distinguishes this from all other roads in the vicinity. 

In times past it has been commonly supposed that a church was 
organized here in 169-4, and that Mr. Edwards was at that time or- 
dained and set over it as its minister. But later investigations show 
that Mr. Edwards preached here some years before the organization of 
the church, and before his own ordination. In the colonial records of 
Connecticut it is made plain that no church existed here May 14, 1696, 
two years after Mr. Edwards began to preach, as leave was then given 
to " "the inhabitants of Windsor living upon the east side of the great 
river . . . with the consent of neighbor churches to embody themselves 
into church estate." Tliough the liberty to organize was thus given by 
the General Court, still there were long delays before the work could 
be effected. John Alden Stoughton, Es(j.,in his recent volume entitled 
'• Windsor Farmes," has shown conclusively that Mr. Edwards was not 
ordained until near the close of May, 1698. Under date of May 28, 
1698, he finds in the account-book of Captain Thomas Stoughton 
"• An account of provition laide in at the house of Mr. Edwards for his 
ordination." 

At length the inhabitants of Windsor on the east side of the great 
river secured their separate parish and church, and the first organic 
steps were taken looking toward the future existence of a separate 
town. 

The space allotted will not admit of lingering here upon the mi- 
nute details of Mr. Edwards's ministry, which was extended to more 
than sixty-three years. That parish developed some remarkable men 
and many notable events. Some examples in illustration of this fact 
will more naturally, perhaps, be presented in the historical sketch of 
South Windsor. 

The next movement looking towards separate organization on the 
east side was the formation of the parish and church in what is now 
Ellington, in Tolland County. This district constituted tiie northeast 
portion of the town of Windsor, and was known as the Great Marsh. 
The name was probably given in the days of ignorance ; for the terri- 
tory covered by the town of Ellington is exceedingly fair and grace- 
ful, spreading out in agreeable curves and attractive landscapes. The 
earliest settlement upon this territory was not until 1717; but a few 
years later there was a considerable population gathered there, so far 
away from Mr. Edwards's church that it was altogether reasonable they 
should seek to establish separate worship among themselves. This sec- 
tion of the town was also called Windsor Goshen. As early as 1725 
the following vote was passed by Mr. Edwards's parish : " That the 



110 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

inhabitants at the Great Marsh shall be freed from their parts of Mr. 
Edwards's salary for the year past, provided they do on their own cost 
provide themselves a minister to preach the gospel to them from this 
present time till the first day of April next." By the year 1732 this 
matter came before the General Court. A jjeriod of several years inter- 
vened between the beginning and the end of the movement looking 
towards the formation of a separate society in Windsor Goshen. The 
records, if copied in full, might be tedious ; but the result was at last 
reached. At the October session of the General Court in 1735 the 
committee reported in favor of the memorialists, and action was taken 
accordingly. 

A few years later there was still another earnest call for division 
and the creation of a new parish. The territory between the Scantic 
Rivei- on the south and Enfield on the north had so filled with inhab- 
itants as to make a parish north of the Scantic River quite needful. 
Accordingly, at the May session of the General Court in 1752, after a 
full presentation of the case, the following action was taken : — 

"Kesolved by this Assembly, that the aforesaid Second Society of Windsor 
[Rev. Mr. Edwards's parish] be, aud it is hereby, divided into two distinct ecclesi- 
astical societies." 

Already we have three ecclesiastical parishes on the east side of the 
river in Windsor, but as yet the ancient town of Windsor is one and 

unbroken. Moreover, before the 

^^'ff' /"^ ^sJ——' fo^^" of East Windsor shall be or- 

(^f^cr^*'^^ f;Tnyff7r ganized there is to be still another 

" formation, of a somewhat peculiar 

/' ^ type, — not a parish in full, and 

^^f^ ^ <</W2. 14. A'^ destined not to endure as a per- 
C/ *^^ ri-f^ manent organization. The follow- 

ing extract from the records of the 
General Court for October, 1761, will show the nature of this move- 
ment : " Upon the memori- ^ 
al of Thomas Grant, Joseph f j A yf /) rs 1 
Stedman, John Grant, Daniel Iq )^//l^ \4U> /^Cl^h^ 
Rockwell, Daniel Skinner, (£1^^/ ^ ^^^^ 
Thomas Sadd, Jr., Samuel 

Smith, and other subscribers ^ ^ . V=3^ 

thereunto, inhabitants of a _^o-y»-t«^ -J^/^^^f^/oy^ 
place called Wapping, on the C«-^ 

east side of the Second Society in Windsor," leave was granted, in 

consequence of their 
distance from the 
place of worship, that 
they might be a half- 
Avay ecclesiastical par- 
ish, and for five months in the year might procure preaching among 
themselves and be exempt from 
taxation in the old parish during ^ — y^ 
that portion of each year. This //^ffiTt^^ 
peculiar organization long ago 
ceased to exist, but may be regarded as a kind of forerunner of the 



^o^n^ J^^t^^^l-l^ 




EAST WIXDSOR. Ill 

present Congregational Cluucli in Wappinjr, wliich was organized 
in 1830. 

Wc have, then, (he somewhat remarkable fact of four ecclesiastical 
parislies (or, more strictly, three and a half) existing upon the east 
side of the Connecticut River within 
the limits of the ancient town of xr _^e/ 

Windsor, before the town of East r^A^^!// '>^'^' 
Windsor itself came into being. The 
long ministry of Mr. Edwards, lasting more than si.xty-three years, had 
ended by his death in 1758. More than one hundred and thirty years 
had ]iassed since the Dorchester colony took up its abode at Wind- 
sor, and ncarlv one hundred and twenty since John BisscU went 
over and built the first house upon the east side of the Connecticut 
River. Events moved slowly in that early period. 

At length, however, the time was fully ripe, by the consent of all 
parties, for the division of the ancient town and the formation of a 
new township embracing all the Windsor territory u]wn the east side 
of the river. In tlie years just Ijefore this event there were voters in 
the town of Windsor \vho had to make a journey of ten or twelve miles, 
over the roughest roads, and across a broad river often swollen with 
floods, to reach the place of voting. When it was fully decided that 
the town should be divided, the river itself constituted the natural line 
of separation, and there was no occasion for dis|)utes about boundaries. 
The following extract from the Colony records shows the action whereby 
the town of East Windsor was constituted, in 1768 : — 

" At a General Assembly of the Governor and Company of the Colony of 
Connecticut, holden at Hartford on the second Thiu'sday of May, a. d. 1768, 

" On the memorial of the inhabitants of the town of Windsor, showing to 
this Assembly that the memorialists, at their legal town-meeting in December 
last, agreed to divide the town, and praying that the part of the town on the 
west side of Connecticut Iiiver be and remain the town of Windsor, with ancient 
privileges of said town ; and that the part of said town that is on the east side 
of said river be made and constituted a town ; and that their common stock, 
raonej', and poor be divided, etc., according to their agreement at tlieir publick 
meeting on the third Monday of April, 17G8, as per memorial on file, 

" It is enacted by the Governor, Council, and Representatives in General 
Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, that that part of said town 
that is ou tlie east side of Connecticut River be, and they are hereby, made, 
erected, and constituted within the limits and bounds thereof a distinct town, 
with all the liberties, privileges, and immunities that other towns by law have 
and do enjoy, and tiiat said new erected and constituted town bo called and 
known by the name of East Windsor." 

The first town-meeting in East Windsor was held July 6, 1768, when 
Erastus Wolcott was chosen moderator, and Aaron BisscU was chosen 
town clerk and treasurer. 

The new township, though only the fragment of an older one, was 
itself of large proportimis. The towns of Enfield and Somcrs iiounded 
it upon the north. The eastern boundary line was quite irregular, in 
some places reaching back from ten to twelve miles eastward from the 
river. It was bountled on the soutii by Hartford, which then included 
the present East Hartford and Manchester. The river was the western 



112 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



boundary. The distance from the Enfield line on the north to the 

Hartford line on the south was not far from ten miles. The people at 

the Great Marsh found their journey to town-meeting easier than when 

^^__ they had to cross the 



y^^/^^^^ 




Connecticut River ; 
but it was still a long 
and toilsome way of 
seven or eight miles 
which they had to 
travel to reach the 
first parish meeting- 
house, where the town-meetings were then held. In the year 1786 that 
part of the new town was set off and organized into a new township, 
by the name of 

toJy remained mi- /'^^^-'^^^'^^^^^''^^'^^^^ 
broken, as the ' ( / 

town of East \^ 

Windsor, until the year 1845, when it was divided into the present 
towns of East Windsor and South Windsor. 

Since the organization of the town, in 1768, down to the present 
time, one hundred and thirteen years, only nine persons have filled 

the office of town clerk : Aaron Bissell, 1768-1786 ; Frederick Ells- 
worth, 1786-1799 ; Aaron Bissell, Jr., 1799-1825 ; Abner Reed, 1825- 



1834 ; James Moore, 1834-1845 ; David Osborn, 2d, 1845-1854 ; Phineas 
L. Blodgett, 1854-1867 ; Elbridge K. Leonard, 1867-1874 ; Mahlon H. 
Bancroft, 1874- . 

This record shows an excellent degree of stability in respect to an 
office wliich in its very nature ought not to be passing frequently from 
hand to hand. It will be noticed that the two Aaron Bisselis, father 
and son, filled this office for the long period of forty-four years. 

One hundred years ago all public offices, whether town, state, or 
national, were far more fixed and enduring than at present. The law 
of rotation did not then prevail as now. It was expected that men, 
having become thoroughly acquainted with the duties of certain offices, 
should continue tlierein from year to year. In old times, in two adjoin- 
ing towns of Massachusetts, two men who had long represented their 
respective towns in the General Court happening to meet, the follow- 
ing conversation ensued. " What is this I hear ? " said one of them. 



KAST WINDSOR. 



113 



" They sav that you arc planning to retire, and not go as representative 
to tiie (Icneral Court any more." " Yes," was the answer; "I am get- 
ting old, and I thiniv some younger man iiad better take tiieotVice now." 
•• Old ! " was the rejoinder ; " 1 am ten years older than you, and 1 feel 
just as well ahle to represent my town at the General Court as ever I 
did." " Well," said the other, " I am afraid, if 1 should go ten years 
more, I shouKl feel just so." 

Before entering upon the details of the religious and ecclesiastical 
history of the town, it may he well to try and recall the condition of 
things in those years when what is now the First Congregational Church 
in East Windsor came into being. This carries us l)aci< to the middle 




THE OLD THEOLOGICAL S( UOuL or t uNNLCTlCLT, 

AT EAST WINDSOR IIILL. 



of the last century, about one hundred and thirty years. At that 
time the strength of the population on the east side of the river was in 
what is now South Windsor. There the settlements began : there 
society had become strong and establi.slicd, while the more northern 
portions were yet in a half-wild state. The Street, that chief road lying 
near the hanks of the river, had been built upon more or less com- 
pactly ail the way from the Hartford to the Kniield line. Above the 
Scantic River tliis street was by no means so fully occu]iie(l with dwell- 
ings as below, though it was far more thickly popidated than any other 
part of the .Scantic parish. From this street out to the eastern line of 
the parish was a distance of six miles or more, and all this territory 
was as yet but very sparsely po|)ulated. When the J^cantic meeting- 
house was built, near where it now stands, it was only a mile and a 
half from The .'^trcet. and yet the dwellers along that thoroiiirhfare 
comiilaiued that it was too far off in the woods. .\zel S. Roe, Ksip, in 
his '• History of the First Ecclesiastical Society of East Windsor," has 
given us some graphic pictures showing the primitive state of things in 

VOL. u. — 8. 



114 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

that region about tlic middle of the last century. Rev. Thomas Potwine 
was to be ordained in 1754. Mr. Roe says (p. 19) : — 

" No building had yet been erected for public worship, but the people, 
anxious to have the ministration of the ordinances, and a servant of God as 
their leader and teacher, pi-ocured the use of a private house for that purpose, 
and the one most appropriate then, on account of its size and capacitj' for accom- 
modating a numl)er of people, was that which is now in possession of Mr. Joel 
Prior, situated in Main Street. The ordination of Mr. Potwine was celebrated 
under the roof of a barn then newly erected and never as yet used. Of course 
none are now living (18.57) who witnessed that scene, but the account of it the 
writer has received ft'om an old lady, who very distinctly remembers what her 
mother told her about it, who was present, and with her balie in her arms. The 
ceremony was performed upon the barn floor. A table answered for a desk, and 
benches made of rough boards, with a few chairs for the more distinguished min- 
isters, were their seats. Boards were laid across the bays as standing-places for 
the women and other people, while upon the beams above perched the younger 
and most elastic." 

Until this Scantic parish was organized, all the ])eople in that part 
of the town attended church at Mr. Edwards's, and buried their dead in 
the graveyard near his ancient meeting-house. Mr. Roe says (p. 11) : 

" One of our oldest inhabitants remembers that at the death of a young 
lady, whose relatives had been buried in the old cemetery on East Windsor Hill, 
the corpse was caiTicd from the house he now occupies in Ireland .Street, upon 
the shoulders of the besirers to the place of interment, a distance of seven miles, 
several sets of bearers relieving each other." 

The new parish was organized in 1752, and its first pastor, the Rev. 
Thomas Potwine, ordained and placed in office, as we have seen. May 1, 
1754. In the antique and stately language of that day he stands on 
the records as Sir Thomas Potwine, the Sir not being intended as a 

title of nobility, but having much 
the same significance in the popu- 
i^uyyJyLD lar mind as had the title Mr. in the 
earliest New England generations. 
In those days a man must be of considerable character and standing to 
be addressed as Mr. This title was at that time given chiefly to minis- 
ters and magistrates. Mr. Potwine is said to have been of Huguenot 
e.xtraction. It is likely that his ancestors came to this country by the 
way of England, and not directly from France. A large Huguenot 
population had planted itself in England before that time, and there 
are many persons in this country of Huguenot origin whose earliest 
American ancestors came from England^ 

In the action of the parish calling Mr. Potwine he is spoken of as 
from Coventry ; that is, Coventry, Conn. 

" Voted, To give Mr. Thomas Potwine, of Coventry, a call to preach with us 
on probation, in order to settle with us, with the advice of the association." 

Yet Mr. Potwine was a native of Boston. Turning to the Boston 
record of births a hundred and fifty years ago, we find the following 
entries : — 

"Ann, daughter of .John and Mary Potwine, born Dec. 20, 1729. 
Thomas, son of " " " " Oct. 3, 1731. 

Mary, daughter of « " " " March 26, 173i." 





EAST WINDSOR. 115 

Until very recently it lias been supposed that John Potwino, the 
father of the East Windsor pastor, was the earliest American ancestor 
of tliis name ; but a more careful examination of the IJoston records 
shows that this .John I'utwinc was himself born in Boston, and was the 
son of a Jiilm Potwinc, i>hysician, who died in Boston in the year 
1700, soon after cominsr to this country, leavinfr liis wife and this one 
eliild. His will bears date July IT, 1700. His wife was a native of 
tiiis country. Tlic fact that Thomas Potwinc was educated at Yale 
College rather than Harvard would seem to im])ly that in 1747, wiien 
young Potwinc entered college, being then sixteen years old. the 
family hail already removed fi'om Boston to Coventry. AIi-. Potwine 
remained in ollice till his death, Nov. 15, 1802, leaving behind him 
an honorable record of service and a substantial family. 

The Rev. Shubael Bartlctt, the second minister of the Scantic par- 
isii, was born in the town of Lebanon, April 2, 1778. His father was 
John Bartlctt, one of the deacons of tiie church. He was graduated at 
Yale College in the year 1800. His college life was cast in that period 
of the Yale College 
history when the in- 
stitution was reli- 
giously at its lowest 
ebb. He was or- 
dained to the pastoral office in this parish Feb. 15, 1804, and remained 
here fifty years, till his death, June 6, 1854. A year or two before 
his ordination he had lieen united in marriage with Miss Fanny Leffing- 
well,of Hiirtford. The two ministries of Mr. Potwinc and ilr. Bartlctt 
filled out almost exactly a century. The ministry of Afr. Bartlctt was 
an exceedingly fruitful one; not by reason of great intellectual powers 
or high pul|)it eloipicnce, l)ut from his faithfulness and patienre, his 
truly Christian walk and conversation. He was thoroughly ac(]uainted 
with every household of his widely scattered flock. The little children 
knew him and were not afraid of him. His home was an open and 
hospitable one, and his gentle-hearted wife was a thorough helpmeet in 
her kind anil winning words and ways. Together they lived, and labored 
to draw the peoi)le of their charge to walk in the ways of wisdom and 
in the jiaths of peace. 

The third pastor of this church was the Rev. Samuel J. Andrews, D.D. 
He was a son of the Rev. William Andrews, and was born in Pan- 
bury, where from 1813 to 1827 his father was pastor of the First 
Congregational Church. Mr. Andrews was a graduate of Williams 
College in the class of 1830. He was settled as colleague pastor with 
Mr. Bartlctt, Sept. 20, 1848, and remained sole pastor about one year 
after Mr. Bartlett's death. He was dismissed May 9, 18.")5. 

The fourth pastor was the Rev. Frederick Munson, a native of Bethle- 
hem, iiorn April 25, 1S18. He was graduated at Yale (^ollege in 1843, 
and remained pastor at Fast Windsor from Sept. 3, 185G, to July 1!\ 18<)5. 

The fifth jiastor was the Rev. David Haven Thayer, who was born 
at Nunda, New York, and was irraduated at Union College in the class 
of 1849. He was pastor from May 22. 18(i<i. to Dec. 20, 1878. 

The sixth pastor was the Rev. Austin S. Chase. He was graduated 
at Dartmouth College in 18t)9, was installed here April 23, 1879, and 
dismissed Dec. 31, 1880, because of failing health. 




e^rz^y^^^ ^ci^Y^-'^^' 




116 MEMOEIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

The present pastor of this church is tlie Rev. Howard Billman, who 
was installed April 26, 1882. 

The Rev. Edward Goodridge, formerly rector of St. John's Church, 
Warehouse Point, has kindly compiled the following brief history of 
it, with its succession of rectors : — 

" For a few years previous to the present century occasional services were 
held by clergymen of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the town of East 
Windsor. On the 25th day of September, 1802, seventy persons, residents 

of the towns 
of East Wind- 
sor, Windsor, 
Enfield, and 
Ellington, 
.signed an 

agreement to 
ask the pasto- 
ral care of the 
Rev. Menzies 
Raj'ner, rector 

of Christ Church, Hartford. At a meeting held Sept. 27, 1802, it was voted 
to summon a meeting two weeks later, — Oct. 11, 1802, — to organize a parish 
of the Protestant Episcopal Church ; which was accordingly done. James 
Chamberlain and Solomon Ellsworth were elected wardens. 

" The frame of the present and only church edifice was raised Jan. G, 1809, 
on the public 'green,' or common, where the building remained until ilay, 
1844, when it was removed to its present site on the east side of the Mam 
Street. The building was consecrated ^ 

by Bishop Brownell, Oct. 10, 18.32. The C.^ ^CC'^^^P'^^^^.^.^^ 
first organ was purchased in 183.5 ; it 

was replaced bv a larger one in 18-59. The rectors have been as follows : 
Rev's Menzies Rayuer, 1802-1809 ; B. Judd, 1819-1821 ; N. B. Burgess, 1822- 
1823; I. Bulkelev, 182.3-1825 : Ceor^e W. Doane, D.D., 182.5-1827 ; Horatio 

Potter, D.D., 1827-1828 ; Ransom War- 

f\ I y'''7^\ ""■' 1^35-1838; Z. Mansfield, 1838- 

/Tl^^ry^ A/^ UA fi l'"'^!; Joseph Scott, 1843-1844; Henry 

(/{^ f I . K/lQy^^-M^ H. Bates, 1844-1852; Charles S. Put- 

,_ ■* nam, 1852-1853; William K. Douglass, 

^ 1853-1855 ; H. McClory, 1855-1860 ; 

C. R. Fisher, 18(51-1862; Henrv Olmstead, D.D., 1862-1867; WiUiam W. 
Niles, D.D., 1867-1870; Edward" Goodridge, 1871-1882. 

" There are at present one hundred and thirty communicants. The Rev. 
Albert U. Stanley is the present acting rector of the church." 

The Rev. E. S. Fletcher, pastor in 1882 of the Methodist Cliurch 
at Warehouse Point, sends the following outline of its history : — 

"The first Methodist preaching services in this place were held i\i private 
houses by the Rev. Mr. Fifield, in 1822. They were held afterward in a citi- 
zens' meeting-house, controlled by the Episcopalians, and now occupied exclu- 
sively by them. The Methodists began to increase, and quite an interest was 
felt in the community in their behalf. Soon they were compelled to leave the 
meeting-house, and quietly resorted to the school-house. Again they worshipped 
for a time in private houses. Afterward they rented a hall, which they occu- 
pied for a considerable time. After this they again secured the meeting-house, 
which they continued to occupy on alternate Sabbaths until 1831. In the 



£l/a/iu.^ X^<^^^ 



EAST WINDSOR. 117 

latter pnrt of that year they resolved to erect a meeting-house for themselves. 
It was Imilt and dedicated in 18.33. 

" Tlie full list of preachers contains thirty-eight names of those who have 
heen assijjncd to this chiirci), and wiio 
liave successively luiuisterod here, sonic 
for a period of three years, a larger 
nuinher for two years, and a few for 
only one year. 

" Tiic Rev. William H. Turkington 
is the present minister." 

Tiie Rev. William II. Turkiiiirton, who occupied the pulpit of tho 

^ J, „ Methodist Church at 

/I ^J^ J^ /' r^Fr-/- ^Vi"«l«)iviileinl882,has 

x/n^yyO^ Ui^viM^ kindly furni.shed the fol- 

Zf A lowing brief record of its 

^ If history : — 

"Tho following sketch concerning tho church in this place is taken from the 
minutes- of the Methodist Episcopal Conference. The church was built in 1829 ; 
the name of East Windsor first appeal's in 1829 ; the name of Ketch Mills in 
1839; the name of Wihdsorville, in 18i)0. In 1876 the church was destroyed 
by fire. In 1878 the present church cdilice was dedicated." 

A complete list of the men who in rotation have filled the pulpit of 
thi.s church since its foundation in 1829 includes more than forty names. 
Tho present jiastor is the Rev. II. M. Cole. 

The Rev. Edward Coodridge, formerly rector of St. John's Church, 
Warehouse Point, has furnished the following record of Grace Church, 
at Broad Brook : — 

"This parish was duly organized April 13, 1847. The church building, a 
substantial edifice of brown freestone, was finished and consecrated in the same 
year. Tlie following is a list of its rectors : Rev's Francis J. Clerc, D.D., 1847- 
1849; Henry Fitch, 1849-18.50; Abel Nichols, 18,50-1852 ; Enoch Huntington, 
1852-18.57 ;■ John F. Mines, 18.57-1859; Thomas V. Finch, 1859-1861; David 
II. Short, D.I)., 18G1-186() ; J. E. Pratt, 1860-1807; B. F. Cooley, 1869- 
1871; Clayton Eddy, 1871-1872; David P. Sanford, D.D., 1879-1882. The 
present number of communicants is fifty-three." 

The Congregational Church in Broad Brook was organized May 4, 
1851. The Rev. Charles \. Seymour served as acting jiastor from the 
time of tlic organization until .^Iay, 18,53. The first house of public wor- 
ship was dedicated in December. 18.53. The Rev. William M. Birchard 
was jiastor from Septendjcr, 1854, to December, 1858. His successors 
have heen: Rev's Timothy Hazen, acting pastor. 1850-1803; Merrick 
Knight, acting pastor, 1863-18(58 ; Edward Trinnbull Hooker, pastor, 
1868-18139: Lysander Tower .^paulding. acting past.r. 1869-1877; 
Joseph A. Freeman, acting pastor, 1877-1881; and Robert C. Bell, who 
began his labors here Aug. 11, 1881. 

The first mention of a school supported by imijlic money on the east 
side of the river belongs to the year 1698. On tlie west side of the 
river schools had been kept for almost half a century before one was 
established upon the east side. In April, 1698, the town agreed to hire 
a schoolmaster who was to teach nine months of the year u|)on the 



(^' 



118 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

west side and three months upon the east side. At that time Samuel 
Wolcott, great-grandson of Henry Wolcott, the American founder of the 

Wolcott family, was in Harvard College, 

v^ ^- -y and was to be graduated in the coming 

T^ /'V^<f^^i/V' summer. He was hired to begin upon 

' C_3 *^'"*^ work of instruction as soon as he 

had received his degree at Cambridge. 
By the agreement of the town with Mr. Wolcott he was " to keep a read- 
ing, writing, and cyphering and grammar school," and he was " to take 
none but such as are entered in spelling." This last clause seems to 
imply that either in private schools or in families the childi'en should be 
so far brought forward as to be masters of the earliest elements of educa- 
tion before they were admitted to this school kept and supported by the 
town. By the laws of Connecticut, from an early date every town con- 
taining seventy families was obliged to keep a school eleven months of 
the year. In the year 1717 the same requirement was made of an eccle- 
siastical parish as had before been made of a towii. This was a very 
important law ; for in the large towns of Connecticut there were some- 
times two, three, four, or more separate ecclesiastical parishes. In that 
part of the town of Windsor lying upon the east side of the river there 
were, as we have seen, four parishes before the town was divided into 
Windsor and East Windsor. 

Though the above law relating to parishes did not go into operation 
until 1717, yet from the time when Mr. Edwards's church and parish 
had become fully established (that is, about 1700), the work of educa- 
tion on the east side of the river passed by a kind of natural law to 
the care of this parish. Mr. Edwards was a man by all his habits of 
mind among the foremost of that generation in promoting public edu- 
cation. His own house was a kind of seminary for the promotion of 
the higher education. His own children were thoroughly instructed by 
him, and young men from the families of his own parish, and from 
neighboring parishes, were constantly resorting to him for classical edu- 
cation. It is difficult to determine exactly how many young men Mr. 
Edwards fitted for Yale College during his long ministry, but not less, 
probably, than thirty or forty. His house was a kind of educational 
workshop. In December, 1712, it was determined that the money 
raised for schools .should ])c divided into three parts, one part to main- 
tain a school alcove Scantic River, another part to cover the region 
reaching from Scantic River down to Sergeant Newberry's Brook, and 
the third from there to the Hartford line. The size of this northern 
school district may be understood by remembering that it included 
more than all the territory now embraced in the present towns of East 
Windsor and Ellington. The j^opulation, however, above Scantic at 
that time was chiefly along the one road, near the meadows, up and 
down the river. 

For a number of years the rule would alternate between two and 
three schools ; and later, as population increased, and was more widely 
spread over the broad territory of the town, four, five, and six schools 
came to be needed, and provision was made for them. In 1724 there 
were schools in six places: one below Podunk, one at a "place called 
Bissell's Farms," one at the Great Marsh, which is Ellington now, and 
the other three to be on territories equally divided, measuring from 



EAST WINDSOR. 119 

Podniik Brook north to tlie upper limits of the town. In 1740 it 
was voted to '* employ masters iu the winter and sehool-damcs in the 
summer." 

After tiie North or Scantic Parish was organized, in 1752, tlie care 
of ediieatiiin specially devolved upon this parish throu;_diout the terri- 
tory embraced in it. hi IToo twenty pounds were appropriated by tiie 
parish for education. It was in ITtJU that this territory was divided 
systematically and made into four school districts. In 170S, two years 
later, East Windsor was constituted a separate township, but tiie care 
of education in the north |)art of the town was still vested in the par- 
ish. In 1781 the territory of the North Parish was divided into si.x 
districts. So nuitters went on, the jmrish taUinj; care of the schools, 
until 1795, when this business passed to the jurisdiction of the town. 

There has never been an incori)oraled academy either in East Wind- 
sor or Soutli Windsor. Within the limits of these towns there have, 
however, been unincoriiorated academies which have done much for 
education. Such an institution existed at East Windsor Hill for many 
years, where the hisihcr Enj^lish branches were taught and where 
young men were fitted for college. Dr. Sanuiel Wolcott, now of Long- 
iueadow, was fitted for college in this sclioid, having for his teacher no 
less a man than William Strong, I.L.D., until lately one of the hon- 
ored judges of the Supreme Court at Washington. This school lived 
on until the founding of the Connecticut Theological Institute at East 
Windsor Hill, whicli by its varied instructions absorbed the academy 
into itself; and since "the removal of the institute to Hartford tlie 
academy has not been revived. 

There was a still humbler academy whicli existed for many years 
in the Scantic Parish near the meeting-house. It provided education 
during the winter in the higher English studies, and also to some 
extent in the classics. Students from Yale College were usually em- 
ployed as teachers. In this school not a few (the writer among the 
number) obtained the rudiments of classical instruction. It has now 
for many years been discontinued. 

The chief business of East Windsor has always been agricultural. 
This town, occupying the fertile lands lying ahuig the Connecticut 
River, is pointed out by Nature as agricultural rather than manufat'tur- 
ing. The .style of agriculture, however, has passed througii many 
changes since the early days. From fifty to seventy-live years ago, rye, 
corn, and hay were the staple crops raised upon these lands. Now, for 
many years, the chief crop in East Windsor, and in most of the towns 
far up and down the river, is tobacco. When rye was one of the lU'C- 
vailing crops in East Windsor, fifty years ago. and before the temper- 
ance cause had well begun, there were .several large gin-distilleries 
within the limits of the town, wliich made an easy market for this 
product of the farms. Osboiii's mill, in Scantic. and other grist-mills 
were kept busy in prc]iariiig this rye for distillation. 

At present "there are within the limits of East Windsor the follow- 
ing manufacturing establishments: At Broad Brook there is the Broad 
Brook Company, engaged in the manufacture of cassimeres. At '\\ ind- 
sorville there is a woollen manufactory. At Warehouse Point there is 
the Leonard Silk Manufacturing Company. 



120 MEMORIAL HISTORY OP HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Through all the years from 1765 on to the actual outbreak of war 
in 1775, society throughout New England, and especially in the older 
and more advanced portions, was thoroughly agitated. Upon the 
East Windsor soil, during the Revolutionary struggle, there were few 
persons of Tory proclivities. We are not aware that there was more 
than one, and he will be spoken of elsewhere. In general, the hearts 
of the people were as the heart of one man in the strong and deter- 
mined purpose to resist British aggression. Nowhere in the land did 
the fires of patriotism burn more brightly than among the towns of 
Connecticut ; and when the great day of decision came, nowhere did 
men go forth more freely, and even eagerly, to join the patriotic army, 
than from the rough hills and rich valleys of tiie little Commonwealth. 
Jonathan Trumbull was her governor, the man of her own choice, the 
only governor in the thirteen colonies heartily on the side of the peo- 
ple. His name was a tower of confidence and strength througli all 
those trying years. 

Six years after the incorporation of East Windsor the spirit of her 
people began to make itself distinctly manifest upon the i)uljlic records 
of the town. At a meeting held on the first Monday of August, 1774, 
a long, able, and specific paper was prepared and I'ccorded, showing the 
wrongs which the nation was suffering at the hands of England, and 
the firm purpose of the people to resist these wrongs. 

There can be no doubt that East Windsor acted a large and nol)le 
part in the War of the Revolution. It would be very easy to give many 
names of officers and soldiers that went into the army from that town; 
but it would be almost impossible at this late day, and with such 
sources of information as we have, to give a complete list of these men. 
With such data as are afforded, it is evident that three hundred or four 
hundred men were furnished by the town during the eight years of the 
war. The country was then so sparsely settled, and the war continued 
so long, that a very large part of all the men in New England of military 
age and condition were drawn into the army for longer or shorter 
periods. From returns made from the various towns during the Revo- 
lution, we have the means of giving the exact condition of the popula- 
tion of East Windsor in 1782. There were then in the town 197 white 
males over fifty years of age, 626 males between sixteen and fifty, and 
737 males under sixteen ; of females, there were 1,650 ; of blacks, 27 : 
total, 3,237. In wealth and population East Windsor stood among the 
prominent towns of Hartford County. Of the twenty towns of the 
county in 1778 there were only six having more wealth; the valuation 
at that time was £28,832 18s. The total population of the State of 
Connecticut in 1782 was 208,870. 

We will omit all detailed reference to the War of 1812 ; for though 
that war sorely taxed New England, and created great suffering in all 
business circles, yet the interest now centring about it is greatly over- 
shadowed by that of the Revolutionary struggle which preceded, and 
the War of the Rebellion so near our own times. 

In this recent war East Windsor acted her ]3art faithfully and well. 
To go over her whole record step by step would make the narrative 
tedious. In respect to the giving of bounties she followed the general 
course of the New England towns, beginning with small sums, and 
rising as the exigencies increased, up to $300. 



/^W^-^JezW^ 



EAST WINDSOR. 121 

From the "Catalogue of Connecticut Volunteers," a bulky volume 
published by the State, we count tbc names of two liundrcd and tliirty- 
six men, ollicers and privates, furnished by the town of East Windsor 
for the War of the Kcbcllion. 

Tiiat part of the old territory of East Windsor wliich is now South 
Windsor lias produced more eminent men than tlie otiier part of the 
territory; and yet men wiio were in active life wliilc East Windsor 
was still an unbroken town, whether tliey originated in one part of the 
territory or tiie otlicr, seem naturally to come under the iiead of East 
Windsor. 

Captain Eijenczcr Grant was for many years one of the principal 
citizens of East Windsor. lie was the son of Samuel and Hannah 
(Filley) Grant, and was born Oct. 3, 1706. He was graduated at Yale 
College in 1720. He came back to his native place and established 
himself as a merchant. He was also 
a ship-owner, and a builder of vessels 
of small size. In his day the mouth 
of Scantic River was a ship-yard. // ' 

Captain (5 rant took a large shai'o in l^ 

tlic interests of the town, civil, social, and military. As selectman, 
moderator in town-meetings, representative tt) the General Court, his 
time was largely occupied in public affairs. He was in the full vigor of 
life when the town of East Windsor was organized, in 1768. He lived 
to great age, dying in 1797 at the age of ninety-one. He was the grand- 
father of the present Major Frederick W. Grant, of South Windsor. 

JIatthew Rockwell was the son of Deacon Sauniel and Elizabeth 
(Gaylord) Rockwell, and was born Jan. 30, 1707. He was doubtless 
one of the boys tiiat the Rev. Timotliy Edwards fitted for Yale College, 
wiiere he was graduated in the year 1728. He studied for the ministry, 
and bore in after-life the threefold title of " physician, clergyman, 
and deacon." Mr. Rockwell seems never to have been a settled min- 
ister, but was from time to time called to preach. In 1741, when there 
was some difficulty in Mr. Edwards's church, and when Mr. Edwards 
himself seems to have been ill, there stands upon the parish books the 
following cnbry: "To Mr. Matthew Rockwell £8 for preaching 4 Sab- 
baths to this Society in Mr. Edwarda confiiu'inent.'' He was for many 
years one of the deacons of the church, and served also as one of the 
physicians of the place. Ho married, Jan. 19, 1743, Jemima Cook. 
He died in 1782, at the age of seventy-five. 

Doctor Primus was, in his way, one of the East Windsor celebrities. 
Stiles, in his " History of Windsor," gives us the substance of the 
story that follows. Primus was an African slave, the property of Dr. 
.Vle.xandcr Wolcott, son of Governor Roger, who was a distinguished 
pliysician on the west side of the river. Primus was a large and fine- 
looking negro, and was employed by Dr. Wolcott to i)re|)arc and mix 
bis medicines, and to attend liim on his journeys day by day. Primus 
proved himself ai)le, faithful, and trustworthy, aud in grateful remem- 
brance of his services Dr. Wolcott gave him his liberty. Primus 
iiad been so long among drugs, and had journeyed so much with 
Dr. Wolcott, that ho had amassed considerable medical knowledge and 
experience. So, after he had his liberty he went over upon the east 



122 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

side of the river and set up in medical practice for himself. He was 
respected and trusted, and obtained considerable business. One day he 
was sent for to go and see a sick child in Poquonnock, which was on 
the west side of the river, and some waj- beyond where his old master 
lived. He made the visit, and on his return thought he would call on 
Dr. Wolcott. He was graciously received, and the Doctor inquired what 
business brought him across the river. " Oh," said Primus, " I was 
sent for to see the child of our old neighbor at Poquonnock ; but I told 
the mother that there was nothing very serious the matter, and that 
she did not need to send so far for a physician, — that you would have 
answered just as well." 

Erastus Wolcott, Esq., son of Roger and Sarah (Drake) Wolcott, 
was born Sept. 21, 1722. He was married, Feb. 10, 1746, to Jerusha, 
daughter of John Wolcott. Tliough he did not have a collegiate educa- 
tion, as did several of his brothers, yet he became a man of great dis- 
tinction, not only in the affairs of his native town, but in matters State 




and National. He was in middle life when East Windsor was set off as 
a separate townshi]). For many years, at different times he represented 
the new town at the General Court. He was moderator of the first 
town-meeting in East Windsor. He was Speaker of the Connecticut 
House of Representatives, justice of the peace, judge of probate, judge 
and chief judge of the County Court, representative in Congress, and 
judge of the Superior Court. He held tlie rank of brigadier-general of 
the Connecticut troops in the Revolutionary War.^ Like his brothers, 
he was a tall man, and of commanding presence. He was of a strongly 
religious nature, like his father. He died Sept. 14, 1793, at the age of 
seventy. 

Benoni Olcott was a prominent man upon the east side of the river, 
both before the town of East Windsor was organized and afterward. 
The Olcott family was not one of the old Windsor families ; it be- 
longed rather to Hartford. Benoni Olcott appears to liave come ^\hen 

a young man 
from Bolton to 
Windsor before 
the middle of 
the last centu- 
ry. He mar- 
ried Eunice Wolcott, daughter of Lieutenant Charles Wolcott. It 
is quite likely that this marriage determined his settlement in Wind- 
sor. Mr. Olcott filled many important offices. He was in middle life 
when the town of East Windsor was organized, and his name is con- 
spicuous in all the early records of the town. He was on the board 
of selectmen ; he was moderator of town-meetings ; he was deacon 
of the old Edwards Church. Though not so prominent a man in 
public affairs as General Erastus AVolcott, yet he was largely trusted, 

1 The Wolcott Memorial, pp. 142, 143. 



-^^-M^^^ (^-^^^^Cj/^.e^ 



EAST WINDSOR. \2'i 

and seemed for many years to divide public responsibilities with Mr. 
Wolcott. He left his full name, as a t/iven naine, to quite a number of 
persons who came after him. It continues to this day. 

Elihu Tudur, M.D., was the sou of the Rev. Samuel Tudor, and 
was born in Windsor, Feb. 3, 1732. He was graduated at Yule College 
in 17o0, at the ago of eighteen. He studied mctlicine with Dr. Ben- 
jamin (iale, of Killingworth. During a portion of the French War 
ho was employed in tlie army as surgeon's mate. Ilo spent two years 
in London, from 1702 to 1764, employed in the hospitals and perfecting 
iiimself ospooially in surgery. He then returned, and established him- 
self in East Windsoi- in practice both as a physician and a surgeon. In 
Die latter capacity he was thought to have no superioi- in the State. 
At the breaking out of the Revolutionary War iiis .sympathies were 
with the British, and this greatly injured, though it did not destroy, his 
practice. Dr. Stiles says of him: '• In person ho was of medium height 
and upright form, uoar-sightod, always very neat in iiis dross, wearing 
rullles, fine silver buckles, and a nosegay in his buttonhole." He lived 
to the age of ninety-throe, dying in 1820. He lived seventy-six years 
after his college graduation, — a fact not often paralleled. In conse- 
quence of his Tory proclivities during the Revolutionary struggle he 
received a pension from the British Government. His life held on 
to such an unusual length that an English agent, it is said, was sent 
over to find out if he was still alive, or whether some one was shamming 
in liis name. 

Captain Hezekiah Bissell was born in Windsor, east side of the 
river, May 20, 1737. He lived in what is now East Windsor, on the 
high land cast of Scantic River, about a mile from Scantic meeting- 
house. He was a soldier in the French and Indian War, as also in 
the Revolution- ^ 

War, and ^^ ^,-tj^ I 



suffered severe- Ay / 

ly from cold and j» yJ^^y9 y 
hardships in the i^^ /<>^<-/ / 




northern winter 

campaigns. He 

lived to great 

age, dving Nov. 

14, lb31, in his 

ninety-fifth year. Tiie writer well remembers him as he appeared from 

1825 to 1830. He was a man of iron frame and of great resolution. 

He was also possessed of a native dignity, good judgment, and large 

intelligence. In the closing years of the last and the early years of the 

present century no man was so frequently chosen moderator of the 

parish meetings in the Scantic Parish as he. 

The name Mather was brought to Windsor by the Rev. Samuel 
Mather, son of Timotliy, of Dorchester, and grandson of Richard, the 
honored founder of the family on these shores. The Rev. Samuel 
Mather was graduated at Harvard College in 1671. He was settled 
in Branford in 1680, and was called thence and settled in Windsor in 
1684. His son. Dr. Samuel Mather, a physician, was born in 1677. and 
was graduated at Harvard College in 169S. In the absence of medical 
schools and medical societies he was approbated as a physician, and 



124 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

licensed to practice " Physick and Chyrurgy " by the General Assembly 
of Connecticut, May 14, 1702. A grandson of Dr. Samuel was Charles, 
born Sept. 26, 1742. He was son of Nathaniel and Elizabeth (AUyn) 
Mather, and was graduated at Yale College in 1763. He established 
himself in the practice of medicine in East Windsor, and obtained a 
higli reputation. In 1795 he had gained such a name that he removed 
to Hartford, and became distinguished as a specialist. He died June 3, 
1822, at the age of eighty. A son of the last, also named Charles, 
born Nov. 30, 1764, was graduated at Yale College in 1785, and estab- 
lished himself as a physician in New York City. He died in 1853, at 
the age of seventy-nine. 

Samuel Wolcott, Esq., son of Gideon and Abigail (Mather) Wolcott, 
was born April 4, 1751. He married, Dec. 29, 1774, Jerusha, daughter 
of General Erastus Wolcott. He was a man of very fine personal ap- 
pearance, and during the time of the Revolutionary War served as 
commissary in the army. He was an active man of business, and, for 
his day, was possessed of large wealth. He died June 7, 1813. 

The Rev. Chauucey Booth was born in East Windsor, March 15, 
1783. He was the son of Captain Caleb and Anne (Bartlett) Booth. 
He was educated at Yale College, and was graduated there in 1810. 
He went directly from college to Andover Theological Seminary, where 
he was gi-aduated in 1813. He accepted a call to the ministry from 
Coventry, where he was ordained Sept. 20, 1815. He remained in this 
pastoral charge from 1815 to 1844, when he retired from the active 
duties of his office. He still lived in Coventry until his death, which 
took place May 24, 1851. 

Dr. Elijali Fitch Reed was the son of Ebenezer and Mary (Fitch) 
Reed, and was born May 11, 1767. Without a collegiate education, 
he gave himself to the study of medicine, and became a physician in 
East Windsor, with an extensive practice. He had a large fund of 
information and of instructive and amusing anecdotes. He was a 
physician trusted and beloved. He received the honorary degree of 
Doctor of Medicine from Yale College in the year 1822. He died in 
1847, at the age of eighty. 

John Bliss Watson was graduated at Yale College in the class of 
1814. He Avas a prominent man of business in East Windsor, living 
upon a rich farm just north of the Scantic River. He and his brother 
Henry were very enterprising in introducing into the country improved 
breeds of horses, cattle, and sheep. He died in 1843. 

Azel Stevens Roe, Esq., was born in New York in the year 1798. 
He enjoyed advantages for early culture, and though not a college 
^ graduate, he re- 

i^y^ C ^^^ <i?5?^ ceived in his youth 

i— -''<'«^2^^'^ e^^ <— '•'^^"^___^ ^'^ excellent edu- 

cation. While yet 
a young man, he became a merchant in New York City. After some 
disasters in business, and after the early death of his first wife, he 
was united in marriage, Nov. 12, 1828, with Miss Fanny Leffingwell 
Bartlett, eldest daughter of the Rev. Shubael Bartlett, of East Windsor. 
After this marriage Mr. Roe bought a farm in the North Parish of East 
Windsor, and has since made this the place of his permanent residence. 
Being a good student and a graceful writer, he soon entered upon plans 



EAST WINDSOR. 125 

for social and literary culture among the ^oung people of the place. 
For many years his inlluenco in this respect was most benelicent. 
About the year 1850 he began to prepare for the press that scries of 
books which has since been remarkably ]tojjular and successful. These 
volumes were republished in England, and have found a multitude of 
readers in both countries. They aie moral talcs, designed to inculcate 
useful and ]iractical lessons on the conduct of life. As long ago as 
IS1J6 more than 110,000 volumes of this series of books had been pub- 
lished and sold in this country, and the circulation in England was also 
large. Soon after his coming to East Windsor he was chosen deacon 
of the East Windsor Church, which olhce he has retained nearly half a 
century. 

The Rev. Eldad Barber was born in the North Parish of East Wind- 
sor, Se])t. 24, 1801, and was graduated at Yale College in 182G, and from 
the Yale Divinity School in 1829. He and five other members of the 
Seminary were ordained Aug. 20, 1829, as evangelists, to go forth as 
workers in the West. From 1829 to 1832 he was pastor of the Pres- 
byterian Church in Marion, Ohio, and afterwards for three years the 
principal of the Hui'on Institute, ililan, Ohio. His longest pastorate 
was over tiie Presbyterian Church at Florence, Ohio, where he was set- 
tled from 1837 till his dcatli, March 27. 1870. His fir.st wife, who died 
soon after mai-riage, was Miss Mnry Hallantine. His second wife, and 
the mother of his children, was ^Irs. Hannah E. Crosby, whose maiden 
name was Osborn, and who was a native of East Windsor, daughter of 
Mr. iloses Oslwrn. 

Judge William Barnes was not a native of East Windsor. He came 
from the town of Tolland, while a young man, and established himself 
in the practice of law at Warehouse Point. He was active in ])ublic 
and semi-public life for a long course of years. He represented the 
town in the General Assembly, and was a man whose judgment was 
highly valued. 

The Rev. Samuel Robbins Brown, D.D., was a native of East Wind- 
sor (Scantic Parish), and was born June 16, 1810. He married the 
younger daughter of the Rev. Shubacl 
Bartlett, — Jliss Elizabeth Goodwin Bart- ,j^ c^'yp' ^^<? 
Ictt. She was born July 10, 1813, and -<^ -^C iy^r-2.^-->^. 
the marriage took place in October, 1838. 

Dr. Brown was for many years head of the Morrison School in China, 
and has been most honorably known and esteemed for his missionary 
labors in China and Ja|)an. While he was yet young (eight years old), 
his family removed from East Windsor to 
JT*, /V- £i7^-?,^«.ai/v.v_ Monson. Mrs. Pho-be Hinsdale Brown, his 
mother, though deprived of the advantages 
of early education, having lived in her youth among the wilds of the 
State of Xew York, was yet a woman of rare genius, and an authoress. 
The favorite hymn, 

" I love to steal awhile away 
From even- cumbering care," 

was from her pen. Her son was fitted for college at Monson Academy, 
and was graduated at Yale College in the class of 1832. He pursued 
his theological studies at Union Theological Seminary, in New York 
City, graduating in 1838. The hrst Chinese and the first Japanese 



126 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

students, if we mistake not, that were sent to this country for their 
education, were sent by Dr. Brown. They were placed under the care 
of Dr. Charles Hammond, for a long course of years principal of 
Monson Academy. Dr. Brown died suddenly at Monson, while on a 
visit, June 20, 1880. His wife and four children survive. 

The Rev. Julius Alexander Reed was a son of Dr. Elijah Fitch and 
Hannah (McLean) Reed, and was born Jan. 16, 1809. He was edu- 
cated at Yale College, graduating in the class of 1829. He was united 
in mari-iagc, Dec. 1, 1835, with Miss Caroline Blood. After finishing 
liis studies, Mr. Reed gave himself earnestly to the home missionary 
work in the far West. He was prominently connected with the build- 
ing and growtli of Iowa College, and was for many years secretary of 
the American Home Missionary Society, having his residence in Daven- 
port, Iowa. His present residence is Columbus, Nebraska. 

Professor David Ely Bartlett was the son of the Rev. kShubael and 
Fanny (Leffingwell) Bartlett, of the North Parish in East Windsor. 
He was born Sept. 29, 1805. He was graduated at Yale College in 
1828, and at once became a teacher in the Deaf and Dumb Asylum 
at Hartford. With but slight interruptions this was his occupation 
in different institutions until his death at Hartford, Nov. 30, 1879. 
At the time of his death he was said to be the oldest teacher of the 
deaf and dumb in tliis country. This circumstance is explained 
in part by the fact tliat he had been so eminently successful in this 
department of instruction that he could not be spared from it. He 
had to a remarkable degree the qualities which Avould fit a man to 
excel in this voiceless teaching. Of a most gentle nature, he had, 
first of all, a lively sympathy with tliese children of misfortune. He 
was a natural actor, and when using the sign language before his classes 
his whole body was full of this silent speech. His life was marked 
by Cliristian simplicity and beauty, and when he died he was greatly 
mourned. Professor Bartlett studied theology at the Union Theo- 
logical Seminary in New York City, and was a preacher to the deaf 
and dumb, as well as a week-day teacher. 

The Rev. Samuel Wolcott, D.D., was the son of Elihu and Rachel 
McCliutock (McClure) Wolcott, and was born July 2, 1813. He was 
graduated from Yale College in the class of 1833, and from Andover 
Theological Seminary in 1887. He Avent, soon after finishing his course 
at Andover, upon a mission to Syria ; but the war between Turkey and 
England in 1840 so disturbed the missionary work in that part of the 
world that he returned to this country. He has been pastor of several 
important churches, his last settlement being in Cleveland, Ohio. He 
received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Marietta College in 
1863. He was the compiler of the magnificent book which has recently 
made its appearance, entitled " The Wolcott Memorial." The expense 
of this ricli volume has been borne bv J. Huntington Wolcott, of Boston, 
Frederick H. Wolcott, of New York City, and Charles M. Wolcott, of 
Fishkill, New York, sons of Judge Frederick Wolcott, late of Litchfield. 
The book is not for sale. Only three hundred copies were published, 
and these were designed as presentation copies to public libraries and 
to individuals of the family kindred. Dr. Wolcott was for several 
years secretary of the Oliio Home Missionary Society, but has retired, 
and is living at Longmeadow, Mass. 





r^^-.^ 



EAST WINDSOR. 127 

Sydney Williams Rockwell, M.D., wns the son of Natliauicl and 
Sarah (Charlton) Rockwell, and was born in East Windsor, June 4, 
1814. lie studieil medicine, and was licensed to i)racticc in 1848, since 
wliicli time he has had an extensive ranjic of business, chiefly in Soutli 
Windsor and East Windsor, but to some extent in other towns. He 
received the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine from Yale College 
ill 1855. 

The Rev. Henry Newton Bissell was born in East Windsor, June 2, 
181G. After graduating at Yale College in the (dass of 1839, he first 
engaged in teaching in Oiiio, and was for several years the principal 
of the Huron In.stitute, at Milan. He then entered the ministry, being 
settled at I^ymc, Ohio, from 1846 to 1854. He was then called to the 
Presbyterian Clnirch at Jit. Clemens, Mieli., where he was still in 
charge at a very recent date. He married, May 5, 1840, Miss Elizabeth 
Hale Hubbard, born in Vernon. 

Among the great-grandsons of the Scantic minister, Thomas 
Potwine, there are two who have received a public education. The 
Rev. Tliomas Stoughton Potwin was the son of Tliomas and Sarah 
(Stoughton) Potwine, and was born in East Windsor, Ajn-il 4. 1829. 
He was graduated at Yale Cidlege in 1851, was tutor at Beloit College, 
Wisconsin, from 1851 to 1858, and was tutor at Yale from 1854 to 
1857. He studied theology at the Tiieological Institute of Connecti- 
cut. The Rev. Lemuel Stoughton Potwin is brother of the above, 
and was born at East Windsor, Feb. 4, 1832. He was graduated at 
Yale College in 1854, taught two years at Norwalk, studied theology 
for two years in the Theological Institute of Connecticut, and was 
tutor at Yale College from 1858 to 1860. He was united in marriage, 
Sept. 12, 1860, to Miss Julia Hedges Crane, of Caldwell, New Jersey. 
For many years he has been Professor of Latin in Western Reserve 
College, wiiich office he still holds, though the college is now known as 
Adelbert College, Western Reserve University. 

Louis Watson, M.D., son of Henry and Julia (Reed) Watson, of 
Ivast Windsor Hill, was born Oct. 29," 1817. He fitted for college at 
tlio East Hartford Academy, and entered Trinity College in 1835. In 
1838 he became a [irivate pupil in medicine under the learned and 
famous Professor William TuUy. of New Haven, and was graduated at 
the Yale Medical School in 1840. He then became a pupil of the emi- 
nent surgeon. Dr. Alden March, at AUiany, New York. He removed 
West, and was proniiiieiit in the organization of the Adams County 
Medical Society, Illinois. He had a long and prominent connection 
with the army as surgeon and medical director. In 1871 he removed 
to Ellis, Kansas, where he now lives. 

Sercno Watson, Ph. D., brother of the above, was born in Decem- 
ber, 1826, and was graduated at Yale College in 1847. He is now 
connected with Harvard College in the dei)artnient of Botany, having 
charge of the College Ilerljarium, and ranking .among the very first 
scholars of the country in this branch of study. Ho is the author of 
"A Bibliographical Index to North American Botany, Part I.," pul)- 
lished by the Smithsonian Institution, and the " Botany of California," 
in two volumes. 

William Wood, M.D., was born in Waterbury, July 7, 1822. He 
was the son of the Rev. Luke and Anna (Pease) Wood. He received 



128 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the University of the City of 
New York in 1846. In 1847 he established himself in his profession 
at East Windsor Hill, Avhcre he remained until his death. In addition 
to his wide medical practice in East and South Windsor, he gave 
special attention to the science of ornithology, until he was regarded 
as an authority in that department. He was distinguished as a natu- 
ralist in other branches also. He was united in marriage, Nov. 9, 1848, 
with Marv L., daughter of the Hon. Erastus Ellsworth, of East Windsor 
Hill. He died Aug. 9, 1885. 

Hezekiah Bissell, tlie youngest son of John and Elizabeth (Thomp- 
son) Bissell, was a graduate of the Sheftield Scientific School, of Yale 
College, in the class of 1861. After serving as assistant engineer in 
the construction of railroads at the West, and also in the building of 
the Great South American Railway across the mountains, he was some 
years since made engineer and superintendent of bridges on the East- 
ern Railroad in Massachusetts, which position he now holds. 

There arc many more who have borne an honorable part in the 
business and government of the town at home, or have gone out to 
act well their parts in other communities, and who would deserve hon- 
orable mention in this connection, did our space permit. We have 
selected a few representative names in the different periods of the town 
history. 




C^Ui 




X. 

SOUTH WINDSOR. 

BY THE REV. INCREASE N. TARBOX, D.D. 

IN the sketch of East Windsor, preceding this, it lias been shown that 
the town was organized in 1708, and that the northeast portion of 
it was tai<en off in 178(5, to form the town of Ellington. After that 
division the territory of the town remained unbroken for about sixty 
years. But as its population increased it was generally thought that 
the area of the town was too large for the convenience of the inhabi- 
tants. From the northern to the southern line tiie distance was about 
ten miles, and there was necessarily much travelling on the part of the 
people to attend town-meetings. For a long course of years these 
meetings were held alternately in the meeting-houses of the north and 
south parishes. When the gathering was in the south parish, the 
voters who lived near the Enlield line had to make a journey of seven 
or eight miles; and wlien it was in the north, or Scantic, house, those 
living near the East Hartford line had to make a journey of about the 
same lengtli. As the town grew large its business also increased, and 
the voters had to bo more fro<iuently called together, until the burden 
of attending to the town affairs, under such conditions, became quite 
heavy. There was population enough to make two township.s of re- 
spectable size, and there was a general readiness among the dwellers, 
both north and south, for a division. This will appear from the result 
of a special town-meeting held April 1, 1845. Though the attendance 
was small, the majority vote shows that there was a wide-spread un- 
derstanding how the question at issue would be decided. Without 
giving the details of the meeting, it is sufficient to state that resolutions 
were passed (132 to 33), expressing a strong desire to have the town 
divided; and Mr. Joseph M. Newberry was ajipointed an " Agent to 
attend to the forwarding s"" petition." 

At the meeting of the General Assembly of Connecticut in May, 
1845, upon the petition of Ilarvey Elmer and others the town was 
divided into East Windsor and South Windsor, the boundaries fixed, 
and rules and conditions usual in such cases made and established. 
Accordinu' to the provisions thus made, the first town-meetinc: of 
South Windsor was called upon the first Monday of August, 1845, 
Theodore Elmer calling the meeting, and acting as moderator of the 
same. The first representative from the new town to the General 
Assembly was Benoni O. King. 

The first pastor of the First Congregational Church of South Wind- 
sor was the Rev. Timothy Edwards, a native of Hartford, born in 1669, 
and son of Mr. Richard Edwards. He was graduated at Harvard 

VOL. II. — 9. 



130 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

College ill 1G91. He began preaching at this place, then called 
" Windsor Farnie," in 1694, though his ordination, as sliown in the 
history of East Windsor, did not talce place until the church was organ- 
ized, in 1698. About the time when lie began his labors here he was 
united in marriage to Esther Stoddard, daughter of the Rev. Solomon 
Stoddard, of Northampton. 

In this connection it may be well to recall the fact pointed out by 
J. A. Stoughton Esq., in his recently published volume entitled 
" Windsor Farmes," that the public services of ordination were followed 
by an ordination ball. Mr. Stoughton (page 51) says : — 

" Those who derisively point tlie finger of scorn at the staid manners and 
wholesome plainness of the ministers of the gospel during the infancy of the 
Churcli in New England will scarcely credit the fact that Mr. Edwards's ordina- 
tion was foUowed by a ball in lionor of the event. Such, however, is the truth ; 
and not long smce there was found in the young pastor's handwriting tlie original 
invitation sent to Captain Thomas Stoughton and wife, urging their attendance 
at an ' Ordination Ball ' given at his own house, and signed Timotliy Edwards." 

Mr. Edwards continued the sole minister upon this spot from the 
commencement of his preaching in 1694 to 1755, and was senior pastor 
for three years more, until his death, in 1758. 

The second pastor was the Rev. Joseph Perry, who was a native of 
Sherborn, Mass., born in 1733. He was graduated at Harvard College 
in the class of 1752, was ordained colleague pastor with Mr. Edwards. 
June 11, 1755, and continued in office till his death, in 1788. 

The third pastor was the Rev. David McClure, D.D., who was born 
in Newport, Rhode Island, Nov. 18, 1748, though the customary 

residence of the 
family was in Bos- 
^ ton, Mass. He was 
-^ of Scotch ancestry, 
as his name implies. He was graduated at Yale College in 1769. 
He was installed pastor, June 11, 1786. He remained sole pastor 
until 1809, and continued as senior pastor until his death, June 25, 
1820, in his seventy-second year. 

The fourth pastor was the Rev. Thomas Robbins, D.D., son of the 
Rev. Ammi Ruhamah Robbins, of Norfolk, in which town he was 
born Aug. 11, 1777. He was graduated 

at Yale College in 1796, was settled as '^'*^y^^,o>'^^^y^-'t^*^t''%^ 
colleague with the Rev. Dr. McClure in 

the month of May, 1809, and continued in office until 1827. He died 
Sept. 13, 1856. 

The fifth pastor was the Rev. Samuel W. Whelpley. He received 
the degree of Master of Arts from Vermont University in 1818, and 
from Middlebury College in 1823. He was the son of the Rev. Samuel 
Whelpley, a somewhat copious writer on theological and general topics, 
and, among other works, author of " The Triangle." He was installed 
April 17, 1828, and dismissed in 1830. He died in 1847. 

The sixth pastor was the Rev. Chauncey Graham Lee, son of the 
Rev. Chauncey Lee, D.D., of Colebrook. He was a graduate of Mid- 
dlebury College in the class of 1817, was installed in August, 1832, and 
dismissed in 1836. He died in 1871. 



/i^^y^^^^^'"^Z!^>'y^^ 




fj V /I d /// r4 n "hdwJa > ^ / 



SOUTH WINDSOR. 131 

The seventh pastor was the Rev. Levi Smith, a native of Bridge- 
water, and a graduate of Yale College in the class of 1S18. lie was 
installed in May, 1840. and dismissed in 1840. He died in 18o4. 

The Rev. Edward W. Hooker, D.D., became the eighth pastor of this 
church. Dr. Hooker was born in tiie town of Goshen, Nov. 24, 1794, 
was graduated at Middlcbury College in 1814, was settled over this 
church of South Windsor from 184'J to l8o6, and died March 3,1875. 

The next pastor, the ninth in order, was the Rev. Judson Burr 
Stoddard. He was born at Pawlet, Vermont, in 1813, was graduated 
at Union College in 1840, and remained pastor of this ciuircii from 
1855 to 1863. 

The tentli jiastor was the Rev. George A. Bowman. Mr. Bowman 
was from Augusta, Maine, and was graduated at Bowdoin College in 
•1843, and at Bangor Seminary in 1867. He was settled over this 
church in 1866, and was dismissed Nov. 30, 1879. 

The present pastor is the Rev. Frederick E. Snow, a graduate of the 
Yale Theological School, who began his labors here in 1883. 

The Second Congregational Church in South Windsor, known as 
the Wapping Church, was organized Fob. 2, 1830. A preaching ser- 
vice had been maintained for some years ]>revious. The Rev. Henry 
Morris went there in 1829, and remained till 1832. The Rev. David 
L. Hunn, a graduate of Yale College and Andover Theological Semi- 
nary, supplied the pulpit from 1832 to 1835. The first regularly set- 
tled pastor was the Rev. Marvin Root, a graduate of Williams College 
and Yale Theological Seminary. He began his work Aug. 29, 1836, 
and was dismissed April 29, 1840. The Rev. Augustus Pomery sup- 
plied for a time, and the Rev. O.scar F. Parker, after serving as acting 
pastor for two years, was ordained in 1844, and continued till 1848. 
The Rev. William Wright was .settled in 1854, and continued in otlicc 
until 1865. The Rev. Winfield S. Hawkes began his ministry Nov. 12, 
1868, and was dismissed March 22, 1871, when the Rev. Charles W. 
Drake supplied the pulpit until 1875. Tlie Rev. Henry Elmer Hart fol- 
lowed, and supplied the pulpit from 1875 to 1878 Tiie Rev Charles 
N. Flanders, a graduate of Dartmouth College and Andover Theological 
Seminary, has been in charge of the pulpit since 1878. 

Mr. Henry Holman, clerk of the Baptist Church m South Windsor, 
has given the following outline of its history : — 

"The organization of tlie Baptist Chinch took place Jan. 14, 1823. There 
had been Baptist preacliing by tlie Kev. John Hastings and others since 1790. 
In 1820 the llev. Wilham Bently bogaii his hibors here, and continued until 1821. 
After this the church was supi)lied by dillerent pereons, including, in 182G, the 
liev. John Hunt. lu 1827 the Kcv. Gurdon Kobbins began to preach. He was 
ordained June, 1829, remaining till 1832. The Kev. E. Doty, the Kev. William 
Bently, and others preached until 183."). In April, 1838, the Kev. William Koid 
began to preach. He was ordained June 10, 1838, .and remained till October, 
1839. The Kev. F. Bestor and others preached here until 1842, when the Rev. 
William C. Walker began to preach, and continued until 1844. After this the 
Rev. Kalpli Bowles and others preached until 1846, when the house was occu- 
pied by our Congregational brethren while they were building a new house. 
After this the Baptists and Congregationalists united, and attended the Congre- 
gational Church. Aug. 10, 1851, the Kev. Gurdoii Kobbins supplied the pulpit, 



132 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

and announced that the house would be open for lay meetings. In the summer 
of 1864 the Episcopalians began to occupy the house, and held meetings for about 
two years. "From 1866 to 1870 the house was closed most of the time. Then 
the Eev. Russell Jennings, of Deep River, repaired the house, and the Rev. E. E. 
Whittemore began his labors, and remained until November, 1871. Since that 
time the Rev. E. S. Towne, the Rev. Warren Mason, and others have occupied the 
pulpit. The present minister is the Rev. H. E. Morgan." 

The Rev. W. A. Tayloi', pastor of the Methodist Church in Wapping, 
sends a brief notice of its history : — 

"The church was organized about the year 1827 by the Rev. V. Osborn, 
■with a membership of eight persons. The house of worship was built in 1833, 
and dedicated by the Eev. Mr. Osborn. The present membership is seventy. 
The present pastor is the Rev. Jacob Betts." 

After the town was fully launched upon its course of separate ex- 
istence, nothing of an unusual nature occurred until the breaking out 
of the War of the Rebellion, in 18G1. Of course, in the years inter- 
vening between 1845 and 1861 events were constantly taking place in 
the town which would be worthy of record if our space permitted us 
to dwell much upon details. By the conditions under which we write, 
we must toucli only the main outlines of the story ; and so we come 
down to the action of the town in 1861. 

At a town-meeting lield in South Windsor Oct. 2, 1861, clear and 
manly action was taken for the raising of troops to aid in the sup- 
pression of the Rebellion. South Windsor, during the war, passed 
through the same essential experiences as did tlie other towns in the 
State, and, indeed, the towns in all the Northern States. There was 
first the free volunteering for three mouths, tlien a system of small 
bounties as new calls were made, then larger bounties, town, state, 
national, as the pressure for men became greater. In the " Cata- 
logue of Connecticut Volunteers," a volume published by the State, 
and showing the enrolment of men during the War of the Rebellion, 
we find the names of one hundred and one men, officers and privates, 
from South Windsor. 

Leaving aside the recent items of town history, in which South 
Windsor would not probably differ materially from other towns, it will be 
more profitable if we turn back to years long gone, and show the great 
things which were enacted upon this territory in foi'iiier generations. 
In some respects, no parish or town in New England can sliow facts of 
greater magnitude than those which belong to this particular spot. 
From the time when Mr. Timothy Edw^ards began his ministry here in 
1694, onward for nearly a century, that which now constitutes the town 
of South Windsor witnessed the growth of some remarkable men. 

Captain Thomas Stoughton was one of the chief men of the early 
^>/l j^ ^ davs. His father was Thomas 

^^fC^r72A^ rto uJb*^?i Stoughton, one of the five men 

<^ appointed to have special care of 

the infant colony settling at Windsor in 1636. Thomas Stoughton the 
son, known as Captain Thomas, having received his military commis- 
sion from Governor John Winthrop, was the chief man of affairs on 
the east side of the river when the Rev. Mr. Edwards began his 




'Jiyr.- 



w- 



SOUTH WINDSOR 133 

ministry tlicrc. He wus born Nov. 21, 1662, son of Tlionias and Mary 
(Wad.sworlli) Stoiigliton, and died Jan. 14, 1740, in tlic eighty-seventh 
year of his age. In the history of East Windsor and South Windsor, as 
also in Windsor proper, tlic name Stoughton lias continued to hold a 
prominent place fmni generation to generation. The Hon. John W. 
Stoiightim, a descendant of Tiionias, was State senator from tiie Second 
District in 184;!, while living in East Windsor, and again in I860 from 
the same district, living then in South Windsor. His son is John Alden 
Stoughton, Es(|., referred to in this sketch as the author of the volume 
entitled " Windsor Farmes." 

In the history of East Windsor \vc made reference to the parentage 
and early life of Roger Wolcott. This was in connection with an 
account of " the settlements " on the east side of the river. It was in 




^^%Uc^d^ -pa. c: 



the year 1699, when he was twenty years of age, that he took up his 
permanent residence in what was afterward East Windsor and is now 
South Windsor. He was a rare and remarkable man, who would, of 
himself, make the glory of any township. We will first leave him to 
tell the outline story of his own life in extracts from his brief Auto- 
biography as published in "The Wolcott Memorial." 

" I was the youngest child of my lion* father Mr. Simon Wolcott, tender and 
beloved in the sight of my mother, ^Irs. Martha Wolcott, and was horn Jan. 4, 
1G79, at a time when my father's outward estate was at the lowest ebb. . . . 

" In tlie year 1680 my father settled on his own land on the east side of the 
river in Windsor. Everything was to begin ; few families were settled tlierc. 
We had neither Minister nor School, by which it hath come to pass that I never 
was a scholar in any School a day in my life. My parents took care and pains to 
learn their children, and were successful with the rest, but not with me, by rea- 
son of my extreme dulness to learn. ... On Sept. 11, 1G87, dyed my hon*? 
fatlier, in tlio sixty-second year of his age. . . . We were now a widow and si.K 
fatherless children ; the buildings unfinished, the land uncleared, the estate much 
in debt, but we never wanted. In the year 1G81) my mother marryed with 
Daniel Clark, Esq. ; I went with her to live on the west side of the river. . . . 
In the year 1690 ray mind turned to learning, and I soon learned to read English 
and to write. [Ho was then eleven years old]. ... In 1694 I went an appren- 
tice to a cloathier. ... On Jan. 2, 1699, I went into ray own business. My 
hands were enabled to perform their enterprise, and my labor was crowned with 
success. 

" Dec. 3, 1702, I marryed Mrs. Sarah Drake, and went to live on my own 
land, on the east side of the river in Windsor. My settlement liere was nil to 
begin, yet we lived joyfully together Our mutual atfection made everything 
easie and delightful! ; in a lew years my buildings were up and my fiirm made 
profitable. In 1707 I took ray first step to preferment, being this year choseu 
selectman for the town of Windsor. 

" In the year 1709 I was chosen a representative for that town in the General 
Assembly. In the year 1710 I was put on the Bench of Justices. . . . 

" In 1711 I went in the expedition against Canada, commissary of the Con- 
necticut stores. ... In 1714 I was chosen into the Council. ... In the year 



134 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

1 721 I was appointed Judge of the County Court. In the year 1732 I was ap- 
pointed one of the Judges of the Superior Court. ... In the year 1741 I was chosen 
J)eputy-GovT of this colony and appointed Chief Judge of the Superior Court. 

"In the year 1745 1 led forth the Connecticut troops in the expedition 
against Cape Breton, and rec* a Commission from Govf Shirley and Gov! Law 
for major-general of the army. I was now in the sixty-seventh year of my age, 
and the oldest man in the army except Rev'! Mr. Moody [Eev. Samuel Moody, of 
York, Maine]. . . . 

" In the year 1750 I was chosen Governor of the Colony of Connecticut." 

We copy also fi'om " The Wolcott Memorial " a description of his 
personal appearance when in official dress, as given by Miss Marsh, of 
Wethersfield. He was a visitor at her father's, and the costume of an 
officer under the regal Government was too imposing to pass unnoticed. 
Several times a week he rode out on liorseback, and never appeared 
abroad but in full dress : — 

" He wore a suit of scarlet broadcloth. The coat was made long, with wide 
skirts, and trimmed down tlie whole length in front with gilt buttons, and broad 
gilt-vellum buttonholes two or three inches in length. The cuffs were large and 
deep, reaching nearly to the elbows, and were ornamented, like the sides of the 
coat, as were also the pocket-lids, with gilt-vellum buttonholes and buttons. 
The waistcoat had skirts, and was richly embroidered. EufBes at the bosom 
and over the hands were of lace. He liad a flowing wig, and a three-cornered 
hat with a cockade, and rode slowly and stately a large black horse whose tail 
swept the ground." 

After Governor Wolcott's retirement from public life in 1754, being 
then seventy-five years of age, he gave himself much to religious medi- 
tation and study. Through his life lie was a devoutly religious man, 
and in his old age he thoroughly enjoyed the leisure and freedom from 
public cares which enabled him to gi-^e liimself more to the study of 
the Bible and to private meditation. 

Governor Wolcott wrote a poem, covering twenty-nine pages, in the 
fourth volume, first series, of the Massachusetts Historical Collections, 
where it is preserved. His subject was Governor John Winthrop, of 
Connecticut, and his aaencv in securing a charter for the colony from 
Charles U. 

The reader may fancy that this is a very nnpoetic theme. But if he 
thinks so, he does not know what this charter meant to a Connecticut 
man of a hundred and fifty years ago. No other colony in America had 
a charter like that of Connecticut. Hear what Bancroft says of it, and 
of the condition of Connecticut under it, in the thirteenth chapter of the 
first volume of his history : — 

" Could Charles II. liave looked back upon earth and seen what security his 
gift of a charter had conferred, he might liave gloried in an act which redeemed 
his life from the charge of having been unproductive of public felicity. The con- 
tentment of Connecticut was full to the brim. In a proclamation under the great 
seal of tlie colony, it told the world that its days under the charter were ' halcyon 
days of peace.' Those days never will return. Time, as it advances, unfolds new 
scenes in the great drama of human existence, scenes of more glory, of more 
wealth, of more action, but not of more tranquillity and purity." 

It is a noticeable fact that on this territory of ancient Windsor the 
Wolcott family on the east side of the river, and the Ellsworth family 




i. 




mm 



sorxn WINDSOR. I35 

on the west, are not iinliko in dignity and in tlie number of eminent 
men wiiich tlicy funiislicd iov Ihc puljlic service. Chief Justice Oliver 
EUswortli, of Windsor. Mini.ster to France, and one of the very ablest 
men of the convention which sha|icd the Federal Constitution, may stand 
over against Oovernor Roger Wolcott. The names Wolcott and Ells- 
worth were common on both sides of the river ; but the name Ellsworth 
rose to its highest dignity on the west .side, and that of Wolcott on the 
east side. 

The Rev. Daniel Elmer seems to have l)eeu the earliest college grail- 
uate from that part of the territory of Windsor lying upon the cast 
side of the river. His name stands upon the Triennial Catalogue of 
Yale College for the year 1713. His wife, according to Stiles, was 
.Margaret Parsons, sister of tiie Rev. Jonathan I'arsons, of Xewbury- 
port, Mass., at whose house Whitelield died. Jlr. Elmer preached at 
Brookfield and Westborough, Mass., and si)ent his later years in Xew 
Jersey. He died in 175.5. 

The Rev. Henry Willes, son of Joshua Willes, was the next graduate 
upon what is now the South Windsor soil. He was born in 1690, and 
was graduated at Yale College in 1715. He was the first minister 
of the town of Franklin, beginning his labors in 1718 and continuing 
until his death, in 1755. Without much doubt, both these men were 
fitted for college by the Rev. Timothy Edwards. 

The Rev. Samuel Tudor was the son of Samuel and Abigail (Filley) 
Tudor, and was born in Windsor, east side of the river, March 8, 1705. 
lie was probably fitted for college by his pastor, the Rev. Timothy 
Edwards. He was graduated at Yale 
College in 1728, and was of the same; Z' OQC^^^-'^ 



class with Matthew Rockwell, described 

ill the East Windsor history as ''deacon, 

minister, and physician." Mr. Tudor was settled in Po(iuuun.ick Parish, 

Windsor, about the year 1737, and remained there till his death, in 

1757. \ 

Here, too, was born, Oct. 5, 1^03, Jonathan Edwards, that remark- 
able man whose name has long since become illustrious throughout the 
civilized world. Seldom has a greater impression been maile in the 
intellectual circles of the world than when the published writings of 

President Edwards, a hundred 
/^^ „ . i£ fc O / C\ 'I'lcl thirtv vears ago, were first 

U-^namAn. C<LvU<ir^ read by the" leading thinkers of 
^ Europe. That such a voice should 

come sounding to them out of the wilderness of the West was something 
so wonderful that they could hardly find words to exjiress their astonish- 
ment and admiration. The very greatness of the themes which Edwards 
chose, not ambitiously, but as one born to this high vocation, served in 
themselves to suggest and illustrate the reach and grasp of his mind. 
It has been generally agreed among the leading scholars and men of 
thought, both in the Old World and the Xew, tJiat Jonathan Edward.s. 
by the power of his intellect, as also by the moral purity and beauty of 
his life, stands as one of the elect among the children of men. 

The Hon. Roger Wolcott, son of Governor Roger and Sarah (Drake ) 
Wolcott, was born Sept. 14, 1704. He married ^lary Newberry. Oct. lO, 
1728. He died Oct. 10, 1754. " He represented the town of Windsor 



136 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



^CJ^^>^^ u/oL-t^^/-^ ,A^^>^ 



in the General Court, was a major of the Connecticut troops, a member 
of the Council, judge of the Superior Court, and one of the revisers 

of the laws 
of the colo- 
n}\" Stiles, 
- N»<^ jV // from whose 

^^ ^ u histoiy of 

Windsor 
the above sentence is copied, suggests that nothing but his early death 
(he died at the age of fift}') prevented his election to the office of 
Colonial Governor. 

Alexander Wolcott, M.D., was the son of Roger and Sarah (Drake) 
Wolcott, and was born Jan. 7, 1712. He was fitted for college, without 
doubt, by the Rev. Timothy Edwards, who has an item in his account- 
book against Roger Wolcott as follows : " To teaching his son, Alexan- 
der, besides what he paid in March, 1730, as I remember, 000-04-01." 



o^^iUi^cT^ ^ ^c^c^^^ ac^c^^c/" 




Alexander Wolcott was graduated from Yale in 1731. He was married 
to Lydia, daughter of Jeremiah Atwater, of New Haven, Dec. 4, 1732. 
He lived for several years in New Haven, and went with his father as 
surgeon in the Louisburg expedition. After that he returned to his 
native town and became a prominent physician, practising upon the 
west side of the river. He was a bold defender of the rights of the 
people against the usurpations of England, and in the time of the Revo- 
lution was the chairman of the Windsor Committee of Inspection. He 
was a man of noble person, commanding aspect, and great abilities. 
Dr. Samuel Wolcott, in " The Wolcott Memorial," says his father told 
him " that Dr. Alexander Wolcott, whom he saw, when a child, far 
advanced in years, was very tall, and erect as a plane-tree, with hair 
hanging down his shoulders, of silvery whiteness, and with an eye and 
eyebrow and complexion of a dark hue ; his appearance was exceeding 
noble." Dr. Wolcott lived to old age, dying in 1795, at the age of 
eighty-three. 

Oliver Wolcott was born in Windsor, east side of the river, Nov. 20, 
1726. He was the son of Roger and Sarah (Drake) Wolcott. He was 
graduated at Yale College in 1747. He received tlie degree Doctor of 
Laws from Yale College in 1792. He was married, Jan. 21, 1755, 
to Lorraine, or Laira, daughter of Captain Daniel Collins, of Guil- 
ford. The French and Indian War coming on just then, lie received 
a captain's commission from Governor George Clinton, of New York, 
raised a company of men, and led them to the defence of the Northern 
Frontiers. After this military episode he returned to Connecticut and 
began the study of medicine under the direction of his elder brother, 
Alexander. This brother had been graduated at Yale in 1731, and was 
now in middle life, and had attained an established reputation as an 
able physician. Oliver Wolcott expected to make the practice of medi- 
cine his life work ; but about this time he was appointed high sheriff 








> . /r.'t/^ i . 'r i y/7V. c^' 



SOUTH WINDSOR. 



137 




^yr 




of Litclifiold County. He removed to tlie town of Litclilleld, iind ever 
after niiide that his lionie. He soon became one of the most prominent 
men in the State, 
and was constant- 
ly in the jniblic 
serviee. He often 
represented tlie 
town of Litcldielil 
in the General As- 
sembly. He was 
one of the Uov- 

ernor's Council. He was chief judce of the Court of Common I'leas. 
He was an ardent patriot, and at the breaking out of th(> War of tiic 
Revolution he became a member of the Continental Cimsrress ami a 
signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was also an army 
leader, and was at one time in charge of fourteen regiments of troops 
about New York. He was Lieutenant-tJovernor of Connecticut from 
178() until IT'.Ki. In this last-named year he was chosen (Jovernnr, and 
died in olVice in the month of I>ecembcr, 1797. He was a man luiturally 
adapted to greatness. Intellectually, morally, and physically lie was of 
large and commanding proportions. 

By his removal to Litchlield his son Oliver, the second Governor of 
Connecticut of that name, had his birthplace in Litchfield, and not in 
Windsor, the hom(> of his ancestors. A large number of distinguished 
men have come fiom the Litchlield branch of the family, whose names 
would be out of place in our record. 

John Fitch was born in the town of Windsor, cast side of the river, 
Jan. 21, 1743. In addition to a common-school education, such as the 
times afforded, he studied surveying, which he afterward turned to 
practical account. He also in early life learned the trade of clock- 




FITCll's STEAJtUOAT. 



138 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



making. He was a man of a remarkably inventive genius. In 1784 he 
entered upon tlie project of propelling vessels upon the water by the 
power of steam. It is claimed, with a good show of reason, that he was 
the first to conceive this plan and to put it in operation. He was deeply 
interested and engaged in this enterprise some fifteen or twenty years 
before Fulton's experiments were made. In the month of May, 1787, 
liis steamboat was propelled by steam at the rate of three miles an hour 
on the Delaware River. The next year he increased this speed ; but he 
wanted money to perfect liis plans. People were unsympathetic and 
unbelieving. He was baflled in his endeavors, and died an utterly dis- 
appointed man, probably by his own hand, in 1798, at Bardstown, Ken- 
tucky, at the age of fifty-five. He is very generally regarded as the real 
inventor of the steamboat. In 1798 a committee of the New York Legis- 
lature made a report on steamboats, in which they say : " The boats of 
Livingston and Fulton were in substance the invention patented by John 
Fitch in 1791, and Fitch during the time of his patent had the exclusive 
riglit to use the same in the United States." 

Ursula Wolcott, the youngest of the thirteen children of Governor 
Roger Wolcott, by her marriage with Matthew Griswold, of Lyme, 
brought fresh honors to her father's house. Like her father, Mat- 
thew Griswold had no advantages for early education, but by liis 
native strength, and breadth of understanding, he rose to high dis- 
tinction in the legal profession, both as lawyer and judge, and was 
Lieutenant-Governor and Governor of the State. He was boin in 
1716, was married in 1743, and died in 1799. His wife was born 
in 1724, and died in 1788. 

Governor Roger Griswold was one of the children of the above 
marriage. He was born in 1762, and died in 1812. He was Governor 
of Connecticut in 1811 and 1812. Like his father, he was eminent in 

the legal profession, and 
was judge of the Superior 
Court. He " was regarded 
as one of the first men in 
^ the nation in talents, polit- 
ical knowledge, force of 
eloquence, and profound legal ability." There were other rich fruits 
of the marriage of Matthew Griswold and Ursula Wolcott, but we 
cannot now trace them out. 

Upon the territory covered by the towns of East Windsor and South 
Windsor, since the settlements on the east side of the river in Windsor 
began, it is found that eighty-eight men have received college honors, — 
sixty-three from Yale, nine from Amherst, and the rest from Dart- 
mouth, Williams, Western Reserve, and Trinity Colleges, and from 
Wesleyan University. Of the eighty-eight, thirty entered the profession 
of the ministry, and the rest were lawyers, physicians, and men of pub- 
lic offices, while a few of them became men of business. Of these men 
of college education the Wolcott fa,mily furnished seven, — a number 
larger than came from any other one family. 





tH<L^ 




XL 
E X F I E L D. 

BY GEORGK W. WIXCII. 

EXFIKLD is situiitcd in the northeast corner of Hartford County. 
Ori-riually tlie town extended " from the nioutli of Lonjrmcadow 
Brook to tlie south, six miles," and " from the Great River, to 
the cast, ten miles, or to the foot of the mountain." From this terri- 
tory a larjre tract has been surrendered on the east, and a smaller 
portion in the northwest corner, so that the township now is hardly 
six miles in eitiier of its dimensinns. The present boundaries of the 
town are on the north. Lon^rmiMduw, Mass.; on the cast, Somers; on 
the soutli, HUington and Hast Windsor; on the west, the Connecticut 
River. 

The surface of the township is somewhat diversified. Eastward 
from the Connecticut River, for half a mile, the land rises in a pentle 
slo]H'. iiii<l then it descends again, so that a ridire is formed which over- 
looks tlie river and the couutry to the east. This ridge extends through 
the town. Along its top the fir.st street was laid, and hero the first 
settlers built their homes. The soil on these slopes is quite productive. 
To the east the surface sinks into a low plain of two or three miles in 
width. This is either sandy or swami)y, and much of it is useless for 
agricultural purposes. Beyond the plain, upon the ea.stern border of 
the town, the ground rises again, in many jdaees very abruptly, and 
spreads out into a large beautiful tract which offers rich advantages for 
cultivation. No largo streams of water How through the town. The 
most im|)ortant arc the .^^cantic River, which by a serpeutiue course 
winds through the eastern part of the town, and Freshwater Brook, 
which passes through the northern part in a westerly direction. These 
both empty into the Connecticut River, and furnish power privileges 
which have been improved to some extent. 

In the year 1G42 the i)onudary line between the ilassachusetts Bay 
Colony and Comieetieut was run i)y order of the (Jeneral Court of Mas- 
sachusetts Bay. 'I'hrough some error the surveyors struck the Con- 
necticut River .several miles too far south, so that all the territory now 
included in Enlield fell within the limits of the Massachusetts Bay 
Colony. Though Connecticut never admitted the accuracy of this 
survey, and even protested against it, yet the matter was suffered to 
remain unsettled for many years. In lti4<S the (ieneral Court of Mas.sa- 
ehu.sefts (U'dered that all the laud on the east side of the Connecticut 
River, from the town of Springfield down to the warehouse, which 
they had formerly built, and twenty poles below the warehouse, should 
belong to the town of Springfield. As a conseiiuenee, nearly a een- 



140 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

tmy of the history of Enfield belongs to Massachusetts rather than to 
Connecticut. 

For thirty years Springfield did nothing toward occupying its newly 
acquired tcn-itory. Finally, in August, 1G79, a committee, consisting 
of John Pynchon, Samuel Marshfield, Thomas Stcbbins, Sr., Jonathan 
Burt, and Benjamin Parsons, was appointed to grant out the land 
against the falls at or about Freshwater Brook " imto persons there to 
inhabit, and to order and act all matters so as that the place may be- 
come a town of itself." This committee lield its first meeting Dec. 31, 
1679, at which a plan for granting out the lands was agreed upon. 




/ V V. " . I r\ ., v^ 






ENFIELD FALLS, DAM OF THE COXNECTICUT PaVER COMPANY. 

All proprietors were required to settle and erect buildings within three 
years, and to remain seven years before they could dispose of their 
allotments or hold two home-lots. The grants were to l)e of four sorts. 
The first sort was to contain thirty acres of field land and a home-lot ; 
the second, forty acres and a home-lot ; the third and fourth, fifty 
and sixty acres respectively, with home-lots. Highways were to be laid 
through these lots if needed, and all ti'ees standing in the streets were 
to be left for shade and ornament. 

At a meeting of the committee in March, 1680, " it was considered 
about making a purchase of the lands from tiie Indians." Major 
Pynchon was directed to effect Ibis purchase, and .£30 was allowed 
as the price. To refund this amount to the committee, each ]iro]irie- 
tor was to be cliarged threepence for every acre received by him. 
The purchase was effected for £25 instead of £30, and a deed was 
afterward given by Totaps,^ alias Nottattuck, the Indian chief who 
owned the land. This deed conveyed " all that tract of land on 

1 These Indian names are copied from the dfed as recorded at Enfield. 



ENFIELD. 141 

the east side of ronnocticut River which is against the falls, from 
Asnuntiick, alias Freshwater River, on the north, down southward 
iilong by t'oiinecticut River side, about three or four miles, to the brook 
below tiie heap of stones, whieh brook is called by the Indians Pog- 
gotossur, and by the English Saltonstall's Brook, and so from the 
mouth of said Saltonstall's alias I'oggotossnr to run from the great 
river Connecticut directly east, eight full and complete miles to the 
mountains."' 

Tiiat part of Enlield which lies north of Freshwater River had pre- 
viously been purchased of another tribe of Indians and conveyed to 
William Pynehon by a deed given in 1078; so that all the territory of 
Eniield was obtained from the Indians by honorable purchase, and is 
covered In- duly recorded deeds. The inhabitants of Enfield never had 
any serious diliioulty with the Indians. Everything favored harmony. 
King Philip's War had just closed when the first attempt at a settle- 
ment was made, so that general peace with the Indians prevailed. 
The Indians did not live within the territory, and for the land they 
received what they considered a just e<|uivalent. For these reasons 
the early settlers of Enheld escaped those hardships and sufTerings 
which came upon the first settlers of many of the towns in Con- 
necticut. 

Previous to the appointment of the committee for Freshwater a few 
individuals had received grants of land near Freshwater River from 
tii(> town of Springfield : but these grants were never occn|)ied. The 
appointment of tiiat committee may be taken, therefore, as the first 
efYectual attempt to plant a settlement within the ))resent limits of 
Enfield. In the autumn of the same year John and Robert Pease are 
said to have gone to Fresiiwater and "to have spent the following winter 
there, living in an excavation in the side of a hill, about forty rods from 
where the first mceting-liousc stood." The truth of this old and com- 
mon tradition there is some reason to doubt, for at the first meeting of 
the committee for Enfield, Dec. 81, 1(371K several grants of land were 
made, but none to the Peases. Their allotment was not made until 
July 1^3, lU.SO, and after the committee had held several meetings. If 
they spent a winter here in making preparations for the coming of their 
families, it was prol)ably the winter of 1G80-1681. In the season of 
lt)8l John Pease and his two sons, John 
and Rol)ert, probai)ly came with their 
families and settled upon their allot- 
ments, about one mile south of Fresh- 
water River. Tliey were the lirst settlers of Enfield. In recognition of 
this fact the committee records, Dec. It!, 1()81, that the lots of John 
Pease and his sons were made " two or three rods wider than others." 

The lots upon the main street were fa.st taken up, for " the planters 
came on with mnnbers and strength." During the year about twenty- 
fi\e families from Salem and vicinity followed the Peases, thougli some 
of tliem remained for only a short time. These fii-st inhabitants were 
men of the I'lUMtan mould, who brought with them their strict habits 
and fixed ideas, in accordance with wiiieh they laid the foundations of 
the new jjlantation, and established its institutions, and infused into 
its life a vigor that has not yet been quenched. In April. 10s:>, the 
number of iniiabitants was such that a movement was made toward the 



^-A^<JU^ 



142 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

organization of the settlement into a distinct town. This' movement 
being seconded by Springfield, a petition was drawn up and presented 
to the General Court of Massachusetts at its session May 16, 1683, 
praying for permission to become " a distinct society." To this petition 
the General Court gave a favorable answer, and ordered that " the 
town be called Enfield," ^ and that the committee who had had charge 
of granting out the lands " be empowered to manage all the affairs of 
the township till this Court take further order." 

Because of this arrangement little was gained by the pi'oprietors. 
The boundaries of the plantation were more definitely fixed, but the 
people still had no voice in the administration of affairs. A committee 
living in another town, ten miles away, was still the source of all 
authority. Matters could not long remain in this condition, however, 
and as a partial remedy for the difficulty the committee called together 
the proprietors July 15, 1683, for the purpose of electing a constable. 
John Pease, Jr., was elected, and so had the honor of being the first 
office-holder within the town. At the same meeting the following 
peculiar arrangement was devised for filling the office thereafter: 
" The old constable whose office expires shall at a public meeting nomi- 
nate three such men of the inhabitants as he shall judge meet to suc- 
ceed him, which three shall be put to the vote at that meeting, and that 
man of them who hath the greatest number of votes of the inhabitants 
present shall be constable." Still further to satisfy the wishes and 
convenience of the inhaliitants, the committee in the following February 
appointed John Pease, Sr., Isaac Meacham, Jr., and Isaac Morgan, " to 
officiate as selectmen, and to manage and carry on the prudential 
affairs of the place so far as they are capable of, who are to act for the 
welfare of the place according to their best judgment or as we shall 
order and direct them." This board of selectmen was authorized to 
call meetings of the inhabitants when necessary, to pre])are matters for 
the action of the committee, and was specially directed to take care of 
the widows and their children, so that " charge might not unnecessarily - 
arise upon the pjlace." 

This action of the committee was highly acceptable to the people, 
and paved the w'ay for the conferring of larger political privileges 
upon them. Questions that concerned the welfare of the town were 
often referred to the inhabitants for decision. They were also permitted 
to express to the committee their wishes upon matters of public policy, 
and soon wei'e allowed to nominate the board of selectmen. With this 
condition of things there seems to have been general satisfaction. 

In 1684 the charter of Massachusetts was revoked by James II., 
and soon after the General Court was dissolved. The committee, 
however, were permitted to continue their work till Andros assumed 
authority as Governor of all New England. Then, because of his " not 
allowing of committees, the said committee for Enfield, who were firstly 
authorized by the General Court of the Massachusetts, forbore or 
declined, and acted nothing after March 15, 1687." 

1 The reason for this name is doubtful. Trumbull says the town was named for a town 
in England. As none of the early settlers appear to have come from that place, theie seems to 
be little ground for this theory. A more reasonable conjecture is that tlie name was a con- 
traction of Endfield, as we know Surtield was of Southfield. The territory was the end of the 
grant to Springlield, ou the east side of the river. 



ENFIELD. 143 

The town immediately assumed the direction of its own affairs, and 
so, strausrely euuiiuh, lirst ol)tuined its rii^ht.s as an oiyanizcd town 
duriii!; tiiat period when the most arljitrary jjower was exercised 
tlirouiiliout all New Enuland. Diirintr this time, on the 2lAt of May, 
1088, the first towu-meetin|x for independent action was held. With 
the fall of James the government of Andros went down. The (Jencral 
Court of Massachusetts at once assemliled, and restored to power the 
committee for Knfiold, which met June 27, 1689, and jiroceeded in the 
places and trust according to former usage. 

The committee remained in power three years after restoration, but 
never fully recovered their inthience. The inhabitants took the lead 
in nearly every movement, and looked to the committee only to sanc- 
tion their acts. The last meeting of the counnittee was held March 10, 
1()!'2. ]5efore the close of the year •' the committee, being for the most 
part dead, only Major Pynchon and Jonathan l>urt remaining, deliv- 
ered u]) to the town their l)Ook of records and left their work." 

No essential change in the conduct of affairs was made upon the 
retirement of the committee. The town continued to admit new inhabi- 
tants upon the conditions which the committee had fixt'd, laid out new 
roads as they were needed, and attended to the imi)rovement of the 
lands already granted. This last matter required freciucnt attention, 
as the grantees of lots often failed to build and .settle according to 
agreement. So serious had the case become, even before the counnittee 
laid down their work, that " the ])lace was oppressed for want of inhabi- 
tants." The solution of the dilhculty was found in the forfeiture of 
several grants and the allotment of the same to others, who were willing 
to become inhabitants and to improve the laud. The increase of popu- 
lation led to tlic settlement of other parts of the township. About 
1002 the land in the south part of the town began to be taken up. In 
1700 a settlement was made in the east part of the town (now ."Vomers) 
by families from the Centre. About the year 1713 settlements were 
made in those parts of the plantation now known as Scitico and Wallop. 
By the year 1720, only forty years after John Pease and his two sons 
reached Freshwater, the whole township was thinly settled. 

The settlement of the lands upon the southern border of the town 
occasioned a long and bitter controversy. The location of the dividing 
line between the two colonies had never been satisfactorily fixed. 
Massachusetts asserted the correctness of the survey of 16-12, while 
Connecticut claimed that that line was too far south. Each colony 
fixed the limits of its border towns according to its own idea of the 
correctness of the Woodward and Saffery survey. As a result, a strip 
of land nearly two miles in width was claimed by both Windsor and 
Enfield. Numerous lawsuits and several arrests resulted from this con- 
trover.sy. At every town-meeting for many years the subject was dis- 
cus.sed and committees appointed "to meet similar committees from 
Windsor to fix the bounds between the two towns." Failing to settle 
the dilliculty between themselves, the towns appealed to the legislative 
bodies of their respective colonics for protection. The two governments 
had already had the matter under cimsideration for a long time, but 
were no nearer a satisfactory settlement than the towns tluMuselves. 
Massachusetts insisted upon the survey of 1042; Connecticut demanded 
a new survey according to the provisions of the charters of the two 



144 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



colonies. In 1713. after twenty years of controversy, the matter was 
settled by compromise. It was agreed tiiat each colony should retain 
jurisdiction over the towns it liad settled, and that for tiie determination 
of the boundary between the towns the line should be run due west fi'om 
the Woodward and Saffery station, and " as many acres as should aj)pear 
to be gained by one colony from the other should be conveyed out of 
other unimproved land as a satisfaction or equivalent." It was found 

CQncc^icu^ aiver V^ , . 

\^ Harford 



H 



4ld.52mJ 
Hills 110- 



Mc&dows 



/C^Pxm 'M. 

Hills, plwrii (TThiSle, 



P>.. 







|V'7/- 

Spr-ingfieid 



oOronoco 



FROM THE WOODWARD AND SAFFEKY MAP OF 1642.* 

that Massachusetts had encroachetl u])ou Connecticut to the extent of 
105,793 acres, of which 7,259 acres lay in the disjmted tract between 
Windsor and the towns of Suffield and Enfield. Windsor surrendered 
her claim to this tract, and as an equivalent for her loss received the 
same munlicr of acres in unoccupied lands elsewhere. 

During this struggle the general affairs of the town were not neg- 
lected, and the population steadily increased. To deepen the interest of 
the inhabitants in all public affairs, it was voted in 1694 " tliat persons 
neglecting or refusing to attend town-meeting shall be fined five shillings 
a day for such neglect or refusal." In 1701 the qualifications for voting 
in town-meeting were prescribed. All persons holding houses and land 



' Contrary to modeni order, this map is drawn witli tlie soutli at tlie top. 



ENFIELD. 146 

of their own in town were allowed the ])rivilegc. Enfield seems to have 
been without any representation in llie (Jcneral Court until 1705. In 
that year it was " Voted, To empower Joseph i'aisuns, Esi]., of Sprinijj- 
field, to represent us in a fj;eneral c<jurt at Boston." This olhee Mr. 
Parsons aeccpted. After this, however, (he town was re])resented only 
irrejriihuly until its annexation to Conneetieut. 

The spirit <>f the town in its early history was hardly so liberal as it 
has become since, for in 1722 it was '' V'oted, That no person in the 
town siiall give nor sell any land to any stranger or foreigner, without 
having lirst obtained liberty from the town, or selectmen for the time 
being, for the same, on penalty of paying £20 into the town treasury, 
for the use of the town, for every breach of this act." By 1721 the 
number of inhabitants in the eastern part of the town had so increased 
that special religious and political i)rivileges were demanded by them. 
In response to this demanil another precinct was established, known as 
the East Precinct. But this did not long satisfy the people of the new 
settlement. They were so far removed from, the Centre, where church 
and school were located, and where all business must be transacted, 
that great inconvenience was caused. In 1733 the question of dividing 
tlie town was sni)mitted to the people : but they were not yet willing 
to surrender so impoi'tant a part of their territory and so large a pro- 
portion of tlieir population. The following year, however, the mat- 
ter was bnnight up again in town-meeting and the division assented 
to. By this act nearly one half nf tiic territory of the township was 
given u|). 

Meantime the people were becoming restive under the jurisdiction of 
Massachusetts. The greater liberty which the p(M)ple of Cminecticut 
enjoyed under their charter was very attractive, and the fact that a 
proper location of the boundary line Ijetween -Massachu.setts and Con- 
necticut would put Enlield under the government of the latter, made 
the hardsiiips of royal authority in the former province seem all the 
more severe. In March, 171(3, hardly three years after the boundary 
dispute was settled l)y the joint commission, it was voted in town-meet- 
ing "• to make a trial to be joined to Connecticut." Nothing, however, 
resulted except the deepening of the desire in the hearts of the people 
to secure their ciiarter rights. After eight years another fruitless efl'ort 
was made. The dilKculties in the way were so many and so great that 
the desired end was to l)e gained only by the most determined and 
persistent endeavor. In 1740 the peojjle again i-oused themselves to 
action, but only to be again 
defeated. They waited un- 
til 1747, in which year the 

step was taken wliich tinally - - r 

led to the correction of this ^ 

wrong of a ci'Utury. Cajitain ^ 

■Samuel Dwight was appointed a committee, to join with committees 
from Woodstock, Smuers, and Sutlield, to make application to the legis- 
lative bodies of Massachusetts and Connecticut to be set off from the 
former province and allowed to belong to the colony of Connecticut. 
By this committee a memorial was preferred to the Assemblies of both 
colonies, representing that these towns were situated within the bounds 
of the royal charter of Connecticut, and that without their consent 
Vol. II. — 10. 



^L^^S/^l/^^^^oTT^^^^^ 



146 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

they had been put under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts ; for these 
reasons they prayed that a committee be appointed by both Assemblies 
to consider the matter and furnish relief. 

To this petition the General Court of Connecticut gave a favorable 
response at its session in May, 1747, and appointed Jonathan Trumbull, 
John Bulkley, Benjamin Hall, and Roger Wolcott, commissioners " to 
meet and confer with such gentlemen as may be appointed by the prov- 
ince of Massachusetts Bay." But Massaciuisetts declined to take any 
action. Tiierefore, in October, 1747, tlic four towns repeated their griev- 
ances to the General Assembly of Connecticut, and prayed that it 
would acknowledge them to be in the colony and " allow them the liber- 
ties and privileges thereof." For two years the General Assembly of 
Connecticut endeavored to reach an amicable settlement of the case ; 
but it was in vain. Massachusetts insisted upon the boundary as 
fixed in 1713. Impatient at the delay, and more strongly determined 
than ever to gain their end, the agents of the aggrieved towns, in 
May, 1749, renewed their complaint to the Connecticut General Assem- 
bly, and, to meet the objections urged by Massachusetts, represented 
that the government of Connecticut had received no equivalent for the 
jurisdiction over these towns, and that the agreement had never been 
fully completed, and was never established by the royal confirmation. 
By this reasoning the Assembly professed to be convinced, and there- 
upon " Resolved, That as it doth not appear that ever the said agreement 
hath, so it never ought to receive the royal confirmation, and that as 
the governments could not give up, exchange, or alter their jurisdiction, 
so the agreement, so far as it respects jurisdiction, is void. And there- 
upon this Assembly do declare that all the said inhabitants which live 
south of the line fixed by the Massachusetts charter are within and 
have right to the privileges of this government, the aforesaid agreement 
notwithstanding." 

The Assembly, apprehensive of further difficulty with Massachusetts, 
appointed a committee to join with commissioners from that province 
to fix the boundary line, and in case of failure to establish the line ac- 
cording to the royal charters. The governor was directed to prepare 
the case and send it to the agent of the colony in London, who should 
petition his Majesty to appoint commissioners to run and ascertain the 
divisional line. No agreement was reached by the two governments, 
and the case was carried to London for settlement. After two years 
of controversy the claims of Connecticut were allowed, and the rights 
of the inhabitants of Enfield secured. At last the question which had 
disturbed the peace of the town almost from its organization was per- 
manently decided. The town, however, had not waited for his Majesty's 
decision, but had entered upon the enjoyment of its rights. In October, 
1749, the representatives of Enfield, ('aptain Ephraim Pease and Cap- 
tain Elijah Williams, took their places in the General Assembly of 
Connecticut, and there the town has been represented annually to the 
present time. 

In this long and unfortunate controversy the people of Enfield were 
moved by no base motive. By charter right the territory belonged to 
Connecticut, and had been unjustly taken from her. To the original 
Woodward and Saffery survey Connecticut never formally assented. 
The compromise of 1713, to which Connecticut was forced by otlier 



ENFIELD. 147 

difficulties wliicli demanded all her cncrgj', seems never to have been 
approved by the town. Tiie j^reater freedom which Connecticut ofl'ercd, 
and the fact that tiie convenience of the inhabitants was better served 
in Connecticut than in Massachusetts, seem to iiave furnished the rea- 
sons for the action that was taken. Tlierefore, while all the measures 
that were ado|)ted to secure the desired end may not Ije justified, and 
sufficient rejjard for the agreement of 1713 may not have been shown, 
it is clearly without reason to impugn the motives of the pcoi)le. 

The population of Enheld at the time of this union with Connecti- 
cut was about one thousand, and was steadily increasing. The taxable 
list was not far from X 15,000. The town was therefore , of considera- 
ble importance. AVhilo the people were thus earnestly engaged in 
securing their rights, they were not negligent of their duty toward the 
larger interests of the colonies. When the exj)cdition was undertaken 
against Louisburg, in 1745, Enfield generously eontributcd to the suc- 
cess of the undertaking by sending a large band of young men, of 
whom nineteen were lost through the hardships that followed the re- 
duction of that stronghold. In the French and Indian war that broke 
out in 1754, which laid great burdens upon the colonies, Enfield again 
sacrificed several of her sons, besides furni-shing money as required. 

As the War of the Revolution drew near, the spirit of the people 
rose in loyalty to colonial interests and hatred of British op])ression. 
In the intense feeling against the Boston Port Bill they shared largely. 
A meeting of tiie inhabitants was held, July 11, 1774, lor the purpose 
of protesting against this obiio.xions act. After setting forth the griev- 
ances of the people in the strongest language, they jiassed the following 
I'esolutions : — 

" Resolved unanimously, that a firm and invioluble union of the colonies is 
absolutely necessary for the defence and support of our civil rights, without 
which all our efforts will be likely to prove abortive. That to facilitate such 
union it is our earnest desire that tlic commissioners of the several governments 
meet, iu a general convention, at such place as shall be thought most conven- 
ient, as soon as the circumstances of distance and communication of intelli- 
gence will possibly admit. That the most effectual incasure to defeat the machi- 
nations of the enemies of his Majesty's govcriuuent and the liberties of .Vnierica 
is to break off all commercial intercourse with Great Biitaiii, until these oppres- 
sive acts are repealed." 

After adopting these resolutions a committee was appointed to con- 
fer with committees from other towns res])ectingtlie best measures to be 
adopted in the crisis, and to receive and forward contributions " for the 
relief of those persons in the towns of Boston. Charlcstown, etc., who 
are distressed by the unliappy conserpicnces of the Bosti>n Port Bill." 
The patriotism which |)rompted these acts was no ephemeral senti- 
ment, but an abiding ediivietion of the justice of the colonial cause, 
and a determination to push the (luesfions at issue to a just settlement. 
Therefore when the storm bridge the people of Enfield did not waver; 
the report of the battle of Lexington reached the ]daee while they 
were gathered in the meeting-house at their regular Thursday week-day 
lecture. Captain Th(unas Alibe hastily procured a drum, and with it 
marched around the meeting-house, drumming furiously. 



148 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

I " So drum and doctrine rudely blent, 

^'j / The casements rattled strange accord ; 

Kj j^ No mortal knew what either meant : 

'T was donble-drag and Holy Word, 
Thus saith the drum, and thus the Lord. 
The captain raised so wikl a rout, 
He drummed the congregation out." 

\ ^*=>^ji^ V^ '^^^ next morning a company of 

re ^** '^^ \\ seventy-four men started for Boston ; 

>A^ "^^ ^ but before they reached that place the 

J J N^ danger had passed, and most of them 

.,^ ^Ci Y>^ returned home. As tiie war continued, 

^^ A efficient measures were taken by the 

\;^ I A town to meet tlie many demands that 

I were made upon it. Early in 1777 a 

^ I ^^ committee was appointed to take care 

Vv,^ Vl y^ K of the families of those who should 
^ ^^**s» ^ « enlist in the Continental army. Forty 
dollars was also voted to each able- 
bodied man who should enlist, till the 
town's quota of forty-seven men was 
filled. During the war town-meetings 
were held frequently for the discussion 
of tlie many exciting questions that arose, 
and for such action as would forward 
the colonial cause. An annual tax, 
sometimes as large as two shillings and 
fourpence on the pound, was levied for 
the purchase of clothing and tents for 
the soldiers, and often another for the 
support of the soldiers' families. When, 
in 1779 and 1780, it became difficult for 
tlie Continental Congress to raise money 
v^ V^^\ " for the support of the army, the town 

^ '^ -^ itself became responsible for the wages 

of the new soldiers that were called for, 
and most vigorously pushed the matter 
^\^ of enlistments. The several quotas of 

the town were promptly filled. Of the 
/^ number which Enfield sent into the Con- 

ifi tinental army, fourteen are known to 

'5 have lost their lives. When the war 

H closed, the town found itself in debt to 

t-^ the amount of several hundred pounds, 

VJ >* ■- ^ the most of which was incurred in rais- 

r"^fc. J! >^ T^ ^'^f? ^'^*^' supporting the men sent into 

^* >1 S>^ *^ ^^^ army. In the issue of the war there 

J'^ ^^ '^^^^**^'^i^ ^^^ great rejoicing : not merely because 

of the victory gained, but because of the 
promise of liberty which the triumph gave ; fo'- tlie idea of liberty was 
deeply fixed in the hearts of the inliabitants of Enfield, as is shown 
by their action in town-meeting, March 31, 1777, of which we give a 
fac-simile on page 151. 




^^ 



ENFIELD. 



151 



Tlic dcclaratiim of p(>iiec, in 1783, found Eiiliclil at the end of its 
first century. Tlir pojiulatiun was 1,580. The iniiabitant.s at once 
settled down into tiieir former i|uietness, and entered liusily upon the 
pursuit of the aits of peace. Xotiiing occurred to distuih tlieni in 
these avocations until the breaking out of the War of 1812, when they 
were aj^ain aroused to action. The sentiment of opposition to the war 
common throuiriiout New Kugland was probably shared by the people 
here ; yet for the prosecution of the 
war they contributed frenerously. Be- 
sides the nirn enlisteil for tiie service, 
a company of seventy-four men, imder 
Captain Luther Parsons, and other de- 
tachments, marched to the defence of i 
New London in 1813. 

Until 182S nothintr further occurred 
to mark the history of the town, or to 
distiuiruisli Enlield from the surround- 
ing towns. In that year began a more 
rapid gnjwth, caused l)y the erection of ■. 
mills on Freshwater River. Tii(jin|H ; 
sonville, now one of the thriving vil- ; 
lages of the .'^tate, began its history at : 
that date. In 1833 a village in the ■ 
eastern part of the town, afterward 
called Ilazardville, was begun. This : 
has grown into a pleasant and stirring " 
place. Tlie growth of these two vil- ^ 
lages soon began to detract from the ■ 
importance of the old '■ centre of the 
township,"' and finally drew oft' to them ! 
the most of the business of the town. ; 

The outbreak of the Civil War i 
aroused the people of Enfield as they " 
had not been arou.sed since the Revo- \ 
lution. The spirit shown was the | 
same loyalty to justice and truth that ; 
had e.xpresseit itself in 1774. On the , 
29th of April, 18t51, in town-meeting I 
assembled, the inhabitants unanimous- : 
ly passed resolutions, expressing their j 
loyalty to the general ( Jovernment, and 
tlie duty of all citizens to make use i)f 
their means in assisting "the properly 
constituted authorities to |iunish trea- 
son, suppress rebellion, and maintain 
the Constitution and enforce the laws." 

the legislature to tender to the President of the L'nited States all the 
resources of the State for the suppression of the insurrection. At 
the same meeting a committee was ai>]iointe(l to look after all families 
of volunteers residing in the town, and to report all cases of want to 
the selectmen, with recommendations that they furnish such sums of 
money as might be deemed needful. This spirit of loyalty to the 




It was also voted to request 



152 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Goyernment, and sympathy with the Nation's defenders, did not falter 
as the war continued and its hardships increased. As call after call 
was sent out for moi-e men, Enfield quickly and generously responded. 
Bounties of one hundred, two hundred, and finally of three hundred 
and fifty dollars were paid to volunteers. In July, 1864, it was found 
that the town had fifty-eight more men in the service of the United 
States than had been called for. The whole num})er sent into the 
army was four hundred and twenty-one. Of these, ten were killed in 
battle, seventeen died of wounds, sixteen died of disease, and thirteen 
died in prison. Others received wounds or contracted diseases wiiich 
after months or years ended their lives ; so that they were no less 
victims and heroes of the war than those who fell on the field of 
battle. 

By the generosity of the town toward those who volunteered and 
toward their families, a debt of f40,000 was incurred, which has since 
been reduced to 830,000. Since the close of the war the peojile have 
quietly pursued their avocations. The population has steadily in- 
creased, and, according to the census of 1880, is 6,755. 

Provision for the religious needs of the place was very early made. 
The committee, at their first meeting, in December, 1679, took the fol- 
lowing action : — 

" Whereas it is the most earnest desire of the committee, and by the help of 
God shall be their great care, to promote the progress of the gospel by endeav- 
oring to settle the ordinances of God at Freshwater Plantation as soon as con- 
veniently may be possible, — it is therefore agreed, concluded, and ordered, that 
all persons who accept of their grants, and shall so declare to the committee 
before the 1st of May next (1680), they shall, with all otliers that may have 
after-graAits, become bound and hereby are engaged to promote the settling of 
an able minister there ; and shall unite together in rendering him suitable and 
due maintenance." 

Sixty acres of land were set apart to become the property of the 
first minister who should be settled, and seventy acres for the use of 
the church. In 1683 tlic building of a house of worship was begun. 
But the efforts of the people and committee to secure a minister were 
for some time fruitless; so that, according to the records of a court 
held in Springfield, Sept. 30, 1684, " the town of Enfield was by the 
grand jury ])resented to the court, for that they are without a preach- 
ing minister." The town was discharged, however, upon the plea that 
the inhabitants were making all suitable efforts to procure a minister. 
In 1689 the Rev. Nathaniel Welch, of Salem, Mass., came to undertake 
the work of the ministiy in Enfield ; but in a few months, before his 
installation, he died. All steps toward the organization of a church 
were for a time deferred. But the people were not destitute of religious 
privileges. It was voted by the inhabitants " that they would assemble 
together on the Sabbath, forenoon and afternoon, excejit such as might 
conveniently go to Springfield or Suffield, and carry on the day by 
prayer, singing, and reading some good orthodox book, till they might 
get a supply of a minister." In 1693 the provision for the support of 
a minister was increased. Ninety acres of land were set apart for 
his use, to become his own possession at the end of seven years. Six 



EXKIKI.I). 



153 



acres were to be put into a state of cultivation, and upon this lot a 
house was to be built. Besides this, a yearly salary of £o3 was prom- 
ised ; but not until 1699 was a minister se- 
cured. In that year Mr. Nathaniel Collins ^ /> c^^/lyy 
was enfrao;cd to preaeh the pospel. Before the ,./\^^aM. ; ^^^mi, 
close of the year a ehureli was formed, and 

Mr. Collins was ordained as its first jiastor.' This church was called the 
Church of Cln-ist in Knlield, and was of the Congrcfrational order. 

About 1750 a Baptist eliurch was foi-med in the northeast part of 
^ tiie town. It existed, however, 

J//'^tj^ z^' y _, for onlv a short time. Its pastor, 

yy / ^^^<^<'fUi.^-7^^x_^ the Re\-.Josep]iMcachaui. became 
^ nneof the first converts in Amer- 

ica to the faith and principles of Slialcerism. This was about tlie year 
1781. With him went several members of his church, and the Baptist 
organization soon l)ecame extinct. Jlr. Meacham, who was a native of 
Enfield, became a leader among the Shakers. Under his guidance the 
principles of this body in regard to property and order were established, 
and largely thi-ough his influence the different societies of Shakers 
in New England and New York were founded. A society of Shakers 




THE NoKrU FAMILY UK SUAKEKS. 



organized in Enfield about the year 1788, as a result of the defection 
in the Baptist Church. This society has continued to the present 
time. It consists of three families and about two hundred and fifty 



' The ministers of tlic F.nfii'ld rongrpfpitional C'hiireli, succcodiHK Mr. X.itlinniol Collins, 
! been, — Pftor Reynolds, Nov. 1725-1768; Elani Potter, 1769-1774 ; N'eheniiah Pruddcii, 
. 1782-Sc|it. 1815 ; Francis L. Robbins. April, 18I'',-April, 1S50; ('. A. P.. Brigliiun '•"■ 
-Feb. 185.S ; A. I.. Bloodt;ond, 185r.-18fi2 ; K. 1!. Gliddcn, (Vt. 18rt2-Anril, 1S6.1 ; i 
;ctt. Feb. 1867-Ai)ril. 1870 ; X. U. E<;i;leslon, Jan. l,s7o-.Iiilv, 1874 ; mid tJio. W. \V 



havp 
Nov 
1851 
Pickett 
July, 1875-. 



Brigliiun, .Tnn. 
1.1 ; Cyrns 
ini'li. 



154 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

members. The families are gathered near each other in the northeast 
part of the town. They own a tract of land of several hundred acres, 
much of which they carefully cultivate. They sustain their own schools, 
take no part in political affairs, and socially are strictly secluded. They 
are thrifty, honest, and hospitable. Within a few years they have 
erected several very large and expensive buildings, which bespeak their 
temporal prosperity. Their growth is not marked. 

In 1762 a controversy respecting church order broke out in the 
original church, which soon resulted in the withdrawal of many 
of the members. These persons organized themselves into another 
clmrcli, and were known as Separates. In 1770 the General Assembly 
organized the Second Ecclesiastical Society of Enfield in connection 
with this church. The characteristics of this body were wild enthu- 
siasm, a regard for visions and ti-ances, and a practical denial of the 
office of the ministry. Gradually these excesses abated. The church 
became associated with the Baptist denomination, and in that relation 
continued until its extinction, about 1820. 

The original church thenceforward for .several years was the only 
church in the town. But as the population increased, churches of other 
denominations sprang up. About 1835 a Methodist Episcopal Church 
was formed, and a house of worship erected in what is now the village 
of Hazardville. At the time of its organization the church drew its few 
supporters from the different parts of the town, as there were very 
few inhabitants in its vicinity. The growth of the village has added 
strength to the church, so that it has become prosperous and active. 
A large and beautiful edifice has replaced "the meeting-house built in 
the woods." 

St. Mary's Parish (Episcopal) was formed in 1863. Its numbers 
have been small, but are now increasing. 

The Roman Catholics have had a church edifice in Hazardville since 
1863. A new and beautiful house of worship was erected during the 
season of 1880. Prom the first the services of this church have been 
under the charge of the priest in Thompsonville. 

In 1839 the First Presbyterian Church of Thompsonville was formed. 
The first settlers of this village were largely from Scotland, wiio came 
as workmen in the mills. They had been connected with Presbyterian 
bodies at home, and brought with them a deep love for their mother 
church. While they were few they worshipped with the Congregational 
Church of the toAvn ; but in ten years their numbers had so increased 
that they felt justified in organizing a church of their own polity. In 
1845, after long and bitter dissensions over the question of instru- 
mental music in its religious services, this church was rent asunder 
by the withdrawal of a considerable portion of its membership. The 
dissatisfied ones at once formed themselves into a new church, and 
became connected with the United Presbyterian body, and iiave since 
been known as the United Presbyterian Church of Thompsonville. 
Both of these, after many trials and discouragements, have grown into 
strong, active clnu'ches. 

In 1840, chiefly through the labors of the Rev. John Howson, who 
had come from England for employment in the carpet-works, the 
Methodist Episcopal Cliurch of Thompsonville was formed, and it has 
continued, growing in numbers and influence. 



ENFIELD. 155 

The Episcopal Church of TliDinpsonvillc was ornraiiized as a mis- 
sion in 1851, and as St. Andrew's I'aiisii in 185.3, anil is gatliering to 
itself an incirasinLr nunil)er of ailiiciTnts. 

In IsiiU the Roman Catiinlics cri'cted and dedicated a house of wor- 
ship in Thonipsonville, wliieli liy the hirtro increase of tlio foreign popu- 
lation lias become, in numl)ers, the most liourishin;.'' religious society in 
the town. 

Within a few years a Universalist society has been formed, which 
in 187'.' l)uilt a meeting-house, and since has sustained jjuhlic services. 
The society is small. 

In 1855, after a long contention over points of doctrine, the old 
First Church of Enfield was again divided. Nearly one iialf of its 
members, under the lead of the Rev. C. A. (J. lirigham, who for four 
years had been ]xistor of the church, withdrew, and formed the Xortli 
Congregational Church. This latter body continued under the pastor- 
ate of Mr. Brigliam until 1871, when, having accepted the doctrines and 
polity of the C'atholic A|>ostolic Church, he resigned, and with several 
members of the church went to form a congregation of the Catholic 
Apostolic order. After this defection the North Church continued re- 
ligious services until 1878, when, already weakened by numerous with- 
drawals from its mcmliershi]), it closed its house of worship, which in the 
following year was sold to the Cath(jlic Apostolic Church, and most of its 
remaining supporters became connected with the First Church. AVhile 
there are still a few members of the North Society, the body is jiracti- 
cally extinct. The Catholic Apostolic Church rcnniins. Mr. William M. 
Pearl is the elder in charge. Jlr. Warren IJutton is assistant. 

Besides these various religious organizations, there is a society of 
Second Adventists, whose meeting-house is in the eastern part of the 
town, where public worshi]) has been maintained irregularly for twenty 
years, and regularly for the past twelve years. The members of the 
society are somewhat scattered. 

Thus there ap])ear sixteen religious societies in the history of the 
town, of which thirteen still exist and own houses of worship and 
regularly maintain |)ublie .services. Yet many as tliey seem, thi' nudti- 
plication, since the organization of the First Church in lO'Jl), has hardly 
kept pace with the growth in itopulation. 

Following close upon the provision for the church were measures 
for the establishment and sujijiort of a school in Enfield. Tiic com- 
mittee, in December, 1070, voted "an allotment of forty acres in some 
convenient place, for and toward the siipjiorl of a school to be improved 
for that use forever."' No school seems to have been established until 
1703, in which year it was " voted to have a school master in this town 
to teach children." In the following year it was voted "to l)uild a 
school-house, to be eighteen foot long, sixteen broad, and six foot studs, 
in the most convenient place in the middle of the town." And in 
the same year, also, John Richards was invited to teach school, •• the 
town to give him or any other man that .shall keep school iu this town 
X14 yearly, the rest of the salary to be rai.sed upon all children in 
the town from five years of age." Twenty aci'es of land were i>romiscd 
to Mr. Richards if In; continued to teach for five years. From this 
time jirovision was made amiually for the support of a school in the 



156 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

to\yn. A male teacher only was emploj-ed at first ; but in 1714 the 
town went so far as to vote " to hire a woman to keep school four or 
five months, if the selectmen see cause and think convenient." Either 
the selectmen did not " see cause " so to do, or the town was dissatisfied 
with the experiment, for in the following year it was decided " to hire 
a man to keep school." In 1733 a movement was made towai'd estab- 
lishing a school of a higher grade. A committee was appointed " to 
consider of and determine what shall be necessary and best respecting 
hiring a grammar school master." Such a " school master " seems to 
have been hired shortly afterward. 

Until 1754 one school had sufficed for the whole town. In that 
year the town was divided into five districts, Wallop, Scitico, North 
End, South End, and the Centre, and the sum of £500 was voted for 
new school-houses. This multiplication of schools greatly increased the 
expenses of the town. Frequently the amount raised for this purpose 
was double that for all other town expenses. As the popidation has 
increased, new districts have been organized and new schools estab- 
lished, so that at the present time there are twent^'-six schools sup- 
ported by the town. Of these, three are high schools, — one in each of 
the three villages, — and are a blessing and honor to the town. Into 
these twenty-six schools are gathered eleven hundred children, and for 
their support twelve thousand dollars are spent annually. Besides these 
public schools, there are several parochial and private schools, attended 
by five hundred children and supported at an unknown expense. 

The first settlers of Enfield Mere farmers. To till the soil, they 
came to this place. The first products of the land were such as would 
supply their own wants, — corn, wheat, rye, and barley. To increase 
their income, tar and turpentine were quite extensively manufactured 
until clearing of the lands put a stop to this industry. Agriculture 
then for many years remained almost the sole business of the people. 
To the present time, indeed, it has been the occupation of a large por- 
tion of the inhabitants. Much fruit, such as apples, pears, and peaches, 
is raised. Grains of the various kinds are produced. Dairying to a mod- 
erate extent is carried on. For a long time, however, the chief source of 
income to the agricultural portion of the communitj' has been tobacco. 
To the growth of this article the land is admirably adapted. 

But Enfield has ceased to be a distinctively agricultural town, and 
has already become noted for its manufactures. In 1802 iron-works 
were erected on the Scantic River in the eastern part of the town, which 
did a small business for many years. Soon after, the manufacture of 
ploughs was begun, and was carried on quite extensively until 1860. 
Then, as the market for the ploughs was mostly- in the South, the 
business was nearly broken up by the war. Since the war it has 
revived but little. 

The year 1828 marks the beginning of a most remarkable growth 
in the business and population of Enfield. In that year, through the 
efforts of a former resident of Enfield, Mr. Orrin Thompson, of the 
firm of Andrews, Tliompson, & Co., of New York, the Thompsonville 
Manufacturing Company was organized, for the purpose of manufactur- 
ing carpets, and its works were located near the mouth of Fresliwater 
River. As this was a pioneer enterprise, all the machinery and skill 





^/n. 



ENFIELD. 157 

had to be imported, and came from Scotland. The intention at first 
was to import the yarns dyed, and ready for use. But this was found 
to 1)0 impracticable, and therefore all the departments of a complete 
carpet-manufactory were at once established. Owing to the Inisiness 
tact and energy of Mr. Thompson, who gave his personal attention to the 
business, the company was immediately successful. The products of 
these looms soon became widely known and celebrated, so that there 
was shortly a demand for increased power of manufacture. In 1833 
the weaving of three-ply, and soon after of Venetian, carpets began. 
In 1841 Brussels and Axminster works were added. In 1847 the 
hand-loom was displaced by the power-loom, and tlie works were much 
enlarged. A now era of prosperity seemed to be opening for the Thomp- 
sonvillo Manufacturing Company. But hardly liad the promise begun 
to be fulfilled, when unexpected trials rose to threaten the hitherto un- 
checked success of the comjjany. The firm of Tiiompson & Co., of New 
York, which was virtually the Thompsonville Manufacturing Company, 
became crippled, and in 1851 failed. In this disaster the carpet com- 
pany went down, and the mills were at once closed. 

The energy of Mr. Thompson, however, was not jjaralyzed. He set 
about devising a plan for starting the mills, and after two years suc- 
ceeded in organizing the Hartford Cari)et Company, with T. M. Allyn, 
Esq., of Hartford, as president, and George Roberts, Esq., of Hart- 
ford, as treasurer. In 1854 this company bought the property, and at 
once began operations, with Mr. Thompson as superintendent. Wi.se 
management lias insured success. A steady growtii has marked the 
history of the new company. Improved machinery has greatly increased 
the (piantity and improved the <|uality of the falirics produced. New 
works eroetcd have admitted the manufacture of new varieties of goods, 
notal)ly the WiUon and moquotto carpets. The present production of 
the works is nine thousaml yards daily. Tiio number of workmen cm- 
ployed is eighteen hundred. In 1856 Mr. Roberts became president, 
and he held that positi<m until his death, in 1878. During his adminis- 
tration of the company's affairs its capital was increased from 8300,000 
to •'5(1,500,000, and its dividends reached at times as high a figure as forty 
per cent a year. Mr. Roberts was born in East Hartford in 1810, son 
of Ozias Roijerts, and was for many years one of the leading business 
men of Hartford. He was closely identified with the large mercantile 
and financial interests of the city, and was held in the highest respect 
and esteem by all who associated with him. Since Jlr. Roberts's death 
the Hon. Joim L. Houston, who has for many years been connected 
with the company, has been its president. 

While the manufacture of carpets has been the chief industry of the 
village of Thompsonville, other branches of business have lieen carried 
on to a limited extent. In 1845 the Enfield Manufacturing Com- 
pany was organized, with li. G. Thompson as president, for the 
manufacture of hosiery. For several years the company did a flourish- 
ing business, but finally failed, and in 1873 the property was purchased 
by the Hartford Carpet Com])any. 

A considerable trade in lumber has l)een built up by the T. Pease 
<fe Sons Company, with yards here and at Windsor Locks. The com- 
pany has a large planing-mill, and the manufacture of doors, windows, 
blinds, and other articles used in building is largely carried on. 



158 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

In 1833 a business was begun in another part of the town which 
has since grown into large proportions, and added much to the 
wealth and population of Enfield. In that year Loomis & Co. began 
the manufacture of powder in the eastern part of the township. A 
tract of five hundred acres of land was purchased, lying in a deep valley 
on both sides of the Scantic River, and mills were erected upon this. 
At the time of the purchase there weio only two houses and six inhabi- 
tants upon the entire tract. In 1837 Colonel A. G. Hazard, of New 
York, became connected with the company, and soon was the chief 
owner of the property and the moving spirit of the business. He 
removed to Enfield and organized the Hazard Powder Company, of 
which he was made president and manager. The works were much 
enlarged and the quantity of manufacture greatly increased. The 
mills of the company are scattered over a large territory, and consist 
of twenty-two pairs of rolling-mills, five granulating-houses, six hydrau- 
lic presses of four hundred tons working-power, three screw jtresses, 
forty pulverizing, mixing, dusting, and drying houses, five refineries, 
and numerous cooper-shops, storehouses, and magazines, — in all two 
hundred buildings. The power for operating these mills is obtained in 
part from the .Scantic River. Three large artificial ]jonds have been 
constructed, and several canals built for carrying the water to the 
different mills, in which twenty-three large tui'bine wheels are placed. 
Besides these, five steam-engines, two of them of one Imndrcd horse- 
power, are used. About one hundred and fifty workmen are employed. 
All the different kinds of government, spoi'ting, and blasting powder 
are manufactured. The daily product of the works is about twelve 
tons of powder. In 1849 the Enfield Powder Company was organized, 
and erected mills three miles east of the works of the Hazard Powder 
Company. In 1854 the latter corporation absorbed the former, and has 
since run the mills in both places. The powder manufactured here has 
become greatly celebrated, and finds a market in all parts of the world. 

Specific mention should be made of John Pease, Sr., " the Father 
of Enfield." He was probably born in England in 1G30, and came to 
America with his parents when a child. His father died soon after 
reaching Massachusetts, and John seems to have been left to the care 
of his grandmother. She lived but a short time, however, after the 
death of John's father, and in her will ordered that " John Pease shall 
be given freely to Thomas Wadeson, that he shall dispose of him as his 
own child." He married Mary Goodell, of Salem, Mass., as his first 
wife, and Ann Cummings, of Topsfield, Mass., as his second wife. Mr. 
Pease settled as " a yeoman," in Salem, Mass., and there remained until 
his removal to Enfield in 1681. Here he resided until his death, July 8, 
1689. He was active in everything that concerned the welfare of 
the new settlement, and was especially prominent in religious affairs. 
His descendants have always been numerous in the town, and some of 
them have been among the most influential and honored of the citizens 
of Enfield. 

John Pease, Jr., son of the preceding, was the most prominent man 
in the early history of Enfield. He was born in Salem, Mass., May 30, 
1654, and removed to Enfield in 1681. When a boy he was appren- 
ticed to a carpenter and joiner. This occupation he probably followed 



ENFIELD. 169 

until his doparturc from Salom. lie was foremost in every enterprise 
that suuirht the welfare of the town, ami was almost constantly' in ofli- 
cial ]iosition. Ho was the first coiistal)lo in the jilace, ami held the 
ollice for many years. lie was appointed "land measurer" of the 
town, was elected one of the selectmen at the first town-meetiufr, and 
was the first captain of militia in the place. He married Marjraret 
Adams, of Ipswich, Mass., Jan. 80, liiTT, and died in Enfield in 1734. 

Klisha il. Pease, son of the lion. L. T. Pease, was born in Enfield, 
Jan. 5, 1812. He was a descendant of John Pea.sc, the first settler of 
Enlield. He received an academical education, studied law, and in 
1834 went to Texas, where he resided until his death, in Auunist, 1883. 
Mr. Pease took an active part in |iuhlic a Hairs almost fi'om the begin- 
ning of his residence in Texas. He was one of those who nu't in coun- 
cil to consider the expediency of taking up arms against Mexico. After 
Texas liad declared her independence he was for a short time in active 
military .service. He then settled down to the ]iractice of the law. 
After holding several minor olliecs lie was in 1853 elected fiovernor 
of Texas, and held the position for four years. AVhcn the spirit of re- 
bellion began to rise. Governor Pease announced himself a Union man, 
and so remained through the war. He siitTered much in consequence 
of his positive loyalty. His life was threatened, and he was com- 
pelled to live in retirement, where he lacked many of the necessaries 
of life. At the close of the war he I'cturned to the practice of his pro- 
fession. In July, 18t)7, lie was appointed Provisional Governor of 
Texas by General Sheridan. Governor Pease held this ofiiec until 
the reorganization of the State government in 1870. From tiiat time 
until liis death he lived in jirivate life. He jtossesscd talents of a high 
orilcr, and in all his oflicial acts was high-minded and [latriotic. He 
married Miss Lucadia Niles, of Windsor, in 1850, who with two chil- 
dren survives him. 

The man who more than any other left his mark upon the history 
of Enfield was Orrin Thompson. The intiiicnce and resufts of his life 
demand a special and full tracing of his career and character. Mr. 
Tliompson was born in Suflield, March 28, 1788. In the year 1800 his 
fattier, Matthew Thompson, moved to Enfield. In 1805", Orrin, after 
spending .some time at the academy in Westfield, Mass., went to Hart- 
ford to serve an aipprenticeshi]) as clerk in a store. There he remained 
for several years, and acquired that knowledge and those habits of 
business which marked his after life and were largely the secret of his 
success. Upon reaching his majority Jlr. Thompson went to Jewctt 
City as clerk for a manufacturing company, where he remained for two 
or tliree years. There he was dral'tcil into the mililia during the "War 
of 1812, and was sent to Stonington when that jilace was threatened 
with attack by tiie British fleet. 

In 1814 he returned to Enfield and began Imsiness for himself in a 
store which stood where the First Congregational Church now stands. 
In this ]>usiness he was successful. I5ul tlie opi>ortuiiities were too 
narrow tor his energy and ambition, and so in 1<S21 he went to N'ew 
York and entered the firm of David Andrews A- Co. This firm was 
engaged in the earpet-trade. There Mr. Thomp.son found a field for 
the exercise of his powers. IJy his force and skill he inerea.sed tho 



160 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUXTY. 

business of the firm fivefold, and secured for himself a prominent 
place among the leading merchants of New York. 

While prosecuting his business in the latter city he conceived the 
design of manufacturing his own goods. His boldness soon led to the 
attempted execution of his plan, and his love for his old home caused 
him to fix upon Enfield as the place for the trial of his experiment. 
In 1828 Mr. Thompson organized the Thompsonville Carpet Manufac- 
turing Company, and for it obtained a charter from the legislature of 
Connecticut. The works were located near the mouth of Freshwater 
River. Workmen were brought from Scotland, and the mills were 
soon in operation. Success marked the enterprise from the first. The 
works were soon enlarged, and new grades of carpeting manufactured. 
As a result of this success a busy village sprung up, which in a few 
years became the centre of the population of the town. In the year 
1840 Mr. Thompson purchased the carpet-factory at Tariffville, and 
organized the Tariff Manufacturing Company, which also carried on 
a successful business. The product of these looms soon acquired a 
national reputation. The wealth of Mr. Thompson rapidly increased, 
and he became one of tlie few millionnaires of liis time in Connecticut. 
In 1851, however, his long-continued success was broken. A series of 
disasters reduced to bankruptcy the companies with which lie was con- 
nected. He first attempted to revive the Thompsonville Mauufactui'ing 
Company, but in this he failed. He then interested himself in the 
organization of the Hartford Carpet Company. This corporation pur- 
chased the property of the former organization, and in 1854 started 
the mills, under Mr. Thompson as superintendent. This position he 
held until 1861, when he resigned, and retired from business. In his 
well-earned retirement he continued till his death, which occurred at 
Milford, Jan. 31, 1873. Mr. Thompson was married in 1815 to Miss 
Love Lusk, of Enfield. Mrs. Thompson died in 1847. 

Mr. Thompson was especially thoughtful of those in his employ, 
and this interest manifested itself even after his retirement from 
business. His moral qualities were of a liigh and marked order. His 
religious convictions were deep. His faith in God was steady, and, 
especially after his reverses, strong and comforting. 

Harry Allen Grant was born at St. Simon's Island, Georgia, Jan. 23, 
1813. His father had been a surgeon in the English navy, but resigned 
his position and purchased a large plantation in Georgia, upon which 
he passed the rest of his life. The son was sent North, at the age of 
seven years, to be educated, and afterward returned home for only 
brief and occasional visits. He was graduated from Union College 
in 1830 ; he studied medicine in Baltimore, and began practice in 
Albany, New York, where he remained only three years ; then, his wife, 
formerly ^liss Louise Bloodgood, having died, he went to Europe for 
further study. There he spent four years, mostly in Paris, giving his 
time largely to the study of surgery under the direction of the most 
skilful surgeons of Europe. On his return home he began the prac- 
tice of medicine in Hartford. Dr. Grant's thorough training and his 
skill in surgery very soon gave him a prominent position in tiie medi- 
cal profession. His practice extended througliout all the surrounding 
region, and he was frequently called from a distance for consultation 



ENFIELD. 101 

or for the perfornianci' of dillicult surgical operations. .\t'ter twelve 
years in Hartford, ill health ueeessitateil his retirement from profes- 
sional service. He renuivcd to Enfield, haviuL' piirehased the place of 
Mr. Orrin Thompson, whose dauirhter he had married, and there he 
remained until his death. Soon after his removal to Enlield he went 
to Europe for medical advice and treatment, and returned with health 
nearly restored. For many years lie exerted a wide and henelicent 
influence. When the War of the Reiiellion broke out. Dr. Grant, 
though a Southerner by hirth, and having many friends in that sec- 
tion, took a decided stand f(n- the National (iovernment. For a short 
time he was Surgeon-General of the State under Governor Buckingliam. 
Afterward he .was appointed surgeon for the examination of leeruits 
for the army. In l.StJii he was elected as one of the representatives of 
Enfield in the General Assembly. He also held the ollice of Collector 
of Internal Revenue for some time. In 18G4 he was chairman of the 
delegation from Connecticut to the Republican National Convention at 
Baltimore, and was made one of the vice-presidents of the convention. 

Ill all positions I>r. Grant was faithful and ellicient. He was a 
man of broad and fine culture, of courtly manners, of tender sympa- 
thies and generous deeds. The poor, the sick, and the young were the 
special objects of his regard and kindness. He strove to make his 
life a practical illustration of Christian truth. He died Nov. 30, 1884. 
His wife and two sons survive him. 

Another pi-omiuent name in the history of Enfield is Augustus G. 
Hazard. Mr. Hazard was born in South Kingston, Rhode Island, April 
28, 1802. When he was six years of age, his father. Thomas Hazard, 
who was a sea captain, removed to Colum))ia, in this State. There 
Augustus worked upon a farm until he was fifteen years old. His 
opportunities for attending school were very slight. At fifteen he 
began to learn the trade of house-painting, and in this business con- 
tinued until he was twenty years of age. He then went to Savannah, 
Georgia, and became a dealer in paints, oils, and other merchandise. 
He built up a large liusiness, and prosecuted it with great profit to 
himself until 1827. when he removed to New York and became agent 
and part owner of a line of packets between the latter city and Savan- 
nah. At the same time he carried on a large commission business in 
cotton, zinc, and gunpowder. 

In all the.se undertakings he was eminently successful, and gained 
the means and experience which enabled him to undertake and manage 
prosperously the great enter])rise of his life. About the year 1837 
he became interested in the ]iowder-works of Eoomis iV Co., in the 
eastern part of Enlield. In 1843 he organized the Hazard Powder 
Company, and liecame its jiresidt'iit and manager. S(jon after, he re- 
moved his family to Enlield, and continued a resident of the town until 
his death, on the 7th of May, 18ii8. While Mr. Hazard was residing in 
Savannah he became connected with the military organizations of the 
State, and acquired the title of Colonel, by which he was generally 
called during his life. In the year 1822 he was married to Miss Salome 
G. Merrill, of West Hartford, who survived him. .^Iie died in 1880. 

In the conduct of his business Colonel Hazard was shrewd and 
energetic, and by it he accumulated a large fortune. He was deeply 

VOL. 11. — 11. 



162 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

interested in polities, and for several years was chairman of the Whig 
State Central Committee. He was a warm personal ajid ])olitical friend 
of Daniel Webster. Upon the disruption of the Whig party he became 
a Democrat in politics. During the war for the suppression of the 
Rebellion, and afterward, he was a stanch supporter of the Union 
cause. Colonel Hazard was a man of large jniblic spirit, ready to aid 
with his counsel and means whatever promised any good to society. 
In the ^'illage of Hazardville, which was built up by the large business 
which he controlled, and whicli perpetuates his name, he took a decided 
interest. He gave several thousand dollars to erect a building for a 
library and a public hall. 

James Dixon was born in Enfield, Aug. 5, 1814, and died in Hart- 
ford, March 27, 1873. He was the son of William Dixon, who for 
^ ^^ ^ many years was a 

aa^ /i>^,^^^'^^^^m i;;:zi'c,.i™"i 

' (^ ' ^ ^^ ^^^HZHl^ ^^ town. James 

^ ^—^"^^^^ was graduated 

from Williams College in 1834, and soon after began the study of 
the law in his father's office. Being admitted to the bar, he removed 
to Hartford and entered upon the practice of his profession. He 
soon became quite prominent at the bar, and gave promise of emi- 
nence. But his taste was decidedly for politics, and after a few years 
he gave up his law practice and became a politician in the full seuse 
of that term. In 1837, when only twenty-three vears of age, he was 
elected from liis native town a member of the State House of Repre- 
sentatives. He was also a member in 1838, and again in 1844. He 
was elected a Member of Congress as a Whig, and served from Dec. 1, 
1845, till March 3, 1849. In 1854 he was again a representative in 
the State Legislature, and at the session of that year was a candidate 
for the nomination as United States Senator, but was unsuccessful. 
Two years later he was again a candidate, and by a combination of 
Know-Nothings and Republicans was elected. He served in tlie National 
Senate from Slarch 4, 1857, to March 3, 18G9. In 1866 he was promi- 
nent in the attempt to organize a party upon the basis of the political 
princijjles of President Johnson. This action put him out of sympathy 
with the Republican party. In 1868 he was nominated by the Demo- 
crats for re-election to the Senate, but was defeated. Later in the 
same year he was nominated by the same party for Member of Con- 
gress, but was again defeated. Upon the expiration of his term in the . 
Senate he retired to private life, and there remained in feeble liealth 
until Iiis death. His wife was a daughter of the Rev. Dr. Jonathan 
Cogswell. Her death occurred several years before his. Mr. Dixon 
had a taste for literature, and had he chosen a literary life, would 
doubtless have achieved marked success. He published a number of 
poems in "The New England Magazine," at Boston, and was a frequent 
conti-ibutor to the " Connecticut Courant," of Hartford. In its files 
may be found many of his best writings. 



^^^cof^c mfz^Uej 



XII. 

FARMINGTON.' 

BY NOAU PORTER, D.D., 
President of Yale College. 

IT was in 1640 that the township of Farraington began to be occu- 
jiied by white settlers, principally inhabitants of Hartford. A few 
of these were members of the chiircli which Thomas Hooker organ- 
ized at Newtown (Cambridge), in .Massachusetts, and a few years before 
had transferred to the valley of the Connecticut. Among the tliree vines 
which were planted in this genial valley, Hartford was conspicuous, and 
from this central stock the plantation of Tunxis was the first vigorous 
shoot. We can readily believe that the enterprising planters who had 
been tempted to the valley of the far distant Connecticut by the tidings 
of its fertile and sunny meadows would not be long insensible to the in- 
dications of other meadows beyond the blue line of mountains which 
they could hero and there descry over the billowy forest to the west- 
ward, the suggestion of which would Ijc confirmed by the speculations 
of the occupants of the i)alisade fort at Windsor in respect to the 
sources of the Tunxis River, which rolled smoothly at their feet. 

We are not told who was the first adventurer who dared to penetrate 
the intervening fu'cst and gazed ujion the lovely vision of the meadows 
enclosed by the Tunxis and the rccjuabuck, near the centre nf which 
arose the smokes of a considerable Indian settlement, and along the 
borders of which stretched the attractive slopes which are now occujjied 
by the village. No chronicler is needed to assure us that the vision 
when reported awakened the most serious thoughts in the minds of the 
residents of Hartford, and that these thoughts very soon matured into 
a plan for the speedv occujiation of this inviting vallev. 

It appears from" the Colonial Records, that on Feb. 20, 1639-40, 
the report of the committee appointed in January "was delayed 
to the General Court," and that on June la, 1640, •' the jiarticular 
Court " " was ordered to conclude the conditions for tiie planting of 
Tunxis." The agreement with the Indians respecting the possession 
of Hartford, which was renewed in 1670. speaks of the original grant 
from Suncijuassou, which grant " was by him renewed to the Hon. 
John Haynes, Esq.," and " other tlie first magistrates of this place and 

' Tlie historical sketch is larsoly composed of selections from "An Historical Disconrse, 
delivered by request Iwfore the citizens of Famiington," Nov. 4, 1840, by Noah Porter, Jr. ; 
also, "An Historical Disconrse delivered at the Celebration of the One Hundredth Anniver- 
sary of the Erection of the Congregitioiial Church in Farmington, Conn.," Oct. 16, 1372, by 
Noah Porter, D.D., Pn>sideut of Yale College ; also, " Sketch of the Character and Pastoruto 
of Noah Porter, D.D., Pastor of the church in Farmington." 



164 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

enlarged to the westward," etc., which enlargement with his former 
grants " was made in the presence of many," etc. ; and several years 
after, " about the time of the planting of Farmington in the year 1640, 
in writing, between the English and Pethus, sachem or gentleman 
of the place," etc. The following settlers served as grand jurors; 
namely, William Lewis in 1641, John Porter and Thomas Orton in 
1643, John Porter and William Smith in 1644, Anthony Howkius 
in 1645. In 1645 the town received its charter as an independent 
commonwealth.^ 

The territory of this township was bounded on the east by the three 
river towns ; on the north by Simsbury, subsequently settled ; on the 
south by Wallingford, subsequently incorporated ; and on the west by 
the western woods, within which Harwinton was tlie first incorporated 
town. This territory now includes the following towns : Soutliington, 
which was the first to be detached as a separate township in 1779 ; 
nearly the whole of New Britain and Berlin, 1785 ; Bristol, 1785 ; Bur- 
lington, 1806 ; Avon, 1830 ; Plainville, 1869 ; and parts of Wolcott, 
Harwinton, and Bloomfield, formerly Wintonbury Parisli. 

Tlie number of actual settlers at first was small, but it gradually 
increased, until in 1645 Tunxis received its present name, and became 
a taxable town, with " the Hive liberties as the other towns upon the 
river for making orders among themselves." Its first tax in 1645 was 
£10. We can more readily describe than realize the scene that pre- 
sented itself to the few settlers who separated themselves from the 
flourishing towns on the Connecticut, and had come here to dwell 
alone. Between them and their homes lay a continuous forest. They 
were in the midst of a large and warlilce tribe of Indians, the largest 
of any of the tribes in the vicinity of the Connecticut. The huts of the 
natives were scattered here and there, while a large and central settle- 
ment appeared on the east bank of the river, where now stands their 
monument, the silent and the only witness that they ever were here. 
Across the hills upon the southeast there was established upon the 
Mattabesett a portion of another tribe, from which this river iiad its 
name. Much of the descending slope from the mountain, along wliich 
now runs the village street, was more or less densely wooded ; in some 
places it was moist and even marshy. At its foot lay the open meadow. 
Beyond was the western forest, its border darkening the western hills 
quite down to their base, the terror of tlie Indian and the white man ; 
for along its unknown tract for hundreds of miles roamed the dreaded 
Mohawks, to whom all the tribes in this region were tributary. The 
Mohawks were fierce and warlike, the terror of all the New England 
tribes. From the banks of the river which bears their name they 
roved hither and thither upon their errands of conquest ; now surprising 
a native settlement upon the Sound, or breaking in on a defenceless 
tribe on the branches of the Connecticut. The terror of the Mohawk 
rendered the presence of the English desirable, and disposed the Indians 
in all this region to a peaceable demeanor. 

Under these circumstances the settlement began. From the pass 
in the mountain through which runs tlie present road to Hartford, to the 
original meeting-house lot, lots of five acres were laid out for dwellings ; 

1 Sep Colonial Records, vol. i. pp. 133, 134. 



FARMINGTON. 165 

those along the main street were bounded west 1)\' the river-bank, and 
were divided by tiie street, the iiouses beiufi at first erected on its 
western side. South of tiiis tiic hits were laid out in larjrer or smaller 
divisions, still bounded west u|M)n the river. As new settlers came in 
tiicv received lots as the i^ift of the town, or purcha.sed them from the 
older proprietors. In the year lt)55, liftecn years from the date of the 
original settlement, the number of ratable persons in the town was 
forty-six, and the grand list of their estates was £5,519, while the 
ntmil)or of ratable persons in Hartford was one hundred and seventy- 
seven, and the sum of their estates was <£ 19,609. 

The ma]) here inserted gives a view of the village and its inhabitants 
near the end of the seventeenth century. 

During tlie first sixty years the village was gradually increased, 
till in 1700 it is supposed to have consisted of nearly as many houses 
as at the present time. In the year 1(572, thirty-two years after 
the date of the original settlement, tiic jjroprietors of the town, at 
that time eighty-four in number, took possession of all t\w land with- 
in the limits of the town, ami ordered a division on the following 
principles. 

They measured from the Round Hill in the meadow, tliree miles to 
the north, two miles sixty-four i"ods to the east, five miles thirty-two rods 
to the south, and two miles to the west. The lands within the parallelo- 
gram bounded by these lines were called the " reserved lands," large 
portions of which hail already been taken up, and the remainder was 
reserved for " town commons, home-lots, pastures, and pitches, conven- 
ient for the inhalntants," and a common held enclosing the meadows; 
wliile all witliout tliesc lands was surveyed and divided to the eighty- 
four proprietors, according to tlicir property as shown in their lists for 
taxation, with a double portion for Mr. Hooker, and a various increase 
for all those whose estates ranged from £10 to £70. The surveys and 
divisions in the western section of the town were made first, by dividing 
tlie whole into six divisions, of a mile in width, including the higliways 
between, and running eleven miles from north to south. Each of these 
tiers was divided according to the estate of each, liy lines, so that each 
man had lots a mile in extent from east to west, and varying in width 
according to his property. The division of the other portions of the 
town was conducted in very much the same manner. The surveys 
were made at different periods, and they constitute the basis of all the 
titles to land within the towns that have been severed from the original 
township. 

In 1685, the year of the accession of .lames II., on ajiplication to 
the colonial legislature, a patent was granted, confirming in a formal 
manner, and by legal phrase, to the pro]irietors of the town, the tract 
originally granted in 1(545.' At this time the colonists were greatly 
alarmed at the prospect of royal encroachments upon their chartered 
rights, and the formal confirmation of the charter of this town was 
dictated by their fears, as a necessary security against threatened 
danger. 

The following is a list of the owners of house-lots, prepared in 1840 
by the Rev. William S. Porter, from the records in Farmington and 

' This patent was founded on the charter of Connectiout, granted by Phnrles 11. 



166 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Hartford. The letter " S." denotes actual settlers, nearly all of whom 
had previously lived iu Hartford : — 

Mr. Johu Haynes, Esq. ; Mr. Samuel Wyllys ; Mr. Edward Hopkins ; Mr. 
Thomas Welles : Mr. John Steele, S., died in 1664 ; ]Mr. John Talcott ; Mr. John 
Wehster ; Elder AVilliam Goodwin, S., died in 1673 ; WiUiam Pantry ; Thomas 
Scott ; Deacon Andrew Warner, S., removed to Hatfield ; John White ; Stephen 
Hart, S., died in 1683; William Lewis, S., Eegister, died in 1690; the Rev. 
Roger Newton, S., removed to Milford ; Thomas Webster ; IMatthew Webster, S. ; 
Nicholas Mason; Thomas Barnes, S., died in 1688; John Pratt; Eenold Mar- 
vin; Matthew Marvin; John Brownson, S., removed to Wethersfield, and died 
in 1680 ; Eichard Brownson, S., died in 1687 ; George Orvice, S., died in 1764 ; 
Thomas Porter, S., died in 1697 ; Francis Browne ; John Warner, S., died in 
1679; Thomas Demon, S., removed to Long Island; John Cole, S., removed 
to Hadley ; Deacon Thomas Judd, S., removed to Northampton ; Thomas 
Upson, S., died in 1655; Deacon Lsaac Moore, S. ; John Lomes, S., removed 
to Windsor ; William Hitchcock, or Hecock, S., soon died ; John Wilcock ; 
Nathaniel Watson. 

The following purchased house-lots of the original owners, and 
became permanent settlers, the most of whom were also from Hart- 
ford : — 

Eobert Porter, died in 1689 ; John North, died in 1692 ; John Steele, Jr., 
died in 1653 ; Samuel Steele, removed to Wethersfield, and died in 1685 ; John 
Hart, burnt iu 1666, with all his family except the oldest son, who was absent; 
Nathaniel Kellogg, soon died ; Matthew Woodruff, soon died, or removed per- 
haps to Milford ; Thomas Thomson, died in 1655 ; John Andrews, died in 1681 ; 
John Lee, died in 1690; William Adams, died in 1653; John Clark, died in 
1712; Samuel Cowles, died in 1691 ; Moses Ventrus, died in 1697; AVilliam 
Ventru-s removed to Haddam ; Robert Wilson, died in 1655 ; John Wiatt, re- 
moved to Haddam; John Standley, died in 1706; Joseph Kellogg; Deacon 
John Langdon, died in 1689; Thomas Hosmer, returned to Hartford; William 
Smith, died in 1669; Thomas Newell, died in 1689 ; David Carpenter, died in 
1650. 

The other early settlers were Thomas Hancox, in Kensington ; John Eoot, 
died in 1684 ; Mr. Simon Wrothum, died in 1689 ; Edmund Scott, removed to 
Waterbury ; Dr. Daniel Porter, died in 1690 ; Mr. John Wadsworth, died in 
1689; Thomas Orton ; James Bird, died in 1708; Joseph Bird, died in 1695; 
the Eev. Samuel Hooker, died in 1697 ; Mr. Antliony Howkins, died in 1673 ; 
Eichard Jones, removed to Haddam ; William Corbe, removed to Haddam ; Jo- 
seph Woodford, died in 1701 ; Zach. Seymor, removed to Wethersfield ; Eichard 
Seymor, went to Great Swamp or Kensington with others in 1686; Thomas 
Bull, died in 1708; John Norton; Abraham Dibble, removed to Haddam; 
Eichard Jones, removed to Haddam ; Eichard Weller ; John Carrington, removed 
to Waterbury ; Thomas Gridley, died in 1712; Samuel Gridley, died in 1696 ; 
Obadiah Richards, removed to Waterburj' ; Thomas Eichardson, removed to 
"Waterbury ; John Scovill, removed to Haddam ; John Welton, removed to Water- 
terbury ; Johu Eew, died in 1717 ; John Blackleach, merchant ; Joseph Hawley, 
died in 1753. 

The eighty-four proprietors consisted of such of the above as re- 
sided in the town in 1672, or their sons, together with three non-resident 
owners ; namely, Mr. Newton, Mr. Haynes, and Mr. Wyllys. With but 
few exceptions, as has already been stated, the inhabitants were con- 
fined to the village. A few daring spirits, however, were attracted by 
the meadows on the Mattabesett, and about 1680 commenced a 



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FARMINGTON. 167 

settlement at the Great Swamp under the guidance of Richard Seamor. 
From this beginning this society of Kensington originated in 1705, and 
subsequently that of New Britain, 1754, and still later the parish of 
Worthington, 1772. These parishes, with some additional territory, 
were constituted the township of Berlin in 1785. In 1850 New Britain 
became a town, and in 1872 a city. In 1673 the narrow intervals upon 
the Naugatuck determined an emigration to what afterward became the 
town and subsequently the city of Waterbury. Here and there a more 
bold and enterprising spirit fixed his dwelling at some distance from 
the village. As we have said, during this period the inhabitants by 
degrees became more numerous, but with the exception of the colony 
near " the Seamor-fort," and two or three houses on the northern bor- 
ders of the great plain, they were as yet scattered for two miles or 
more along the village street. The upland near their dwellings had 
been slowly cleared and the forest still lingered in sight along the foot 
of the mountain. The western woods were yet an unbroken wilderness, 
save the opening which had been made by the Indians as they retreated 
in 1672 to their reservation west of the meadows, and rallied around 
a new burying-place for their dead. On the south was " the white oak 
plain," still unsubdued, and " the great plain " was thickly crowded 
with its growth of birches and tangled shrub-oaks. It was not till 1695 
that a highway was laid through this district of the town. The 
meadows still furnished our fathers their grass for the long winter, 
and the corn for the Indian pudding, their favorite dish. From the 
upland and the drier portions of the meadow they harvested their wlieat 
and rye and pease. The meadow remained a common field, enclosed by 
a sufficient fence, and shut during the growing of the crops against 
the intrusion of cattle. The regulation of this property constituted the 
principal busmess of the town-meetings. The river furnished to the 
English and the natives its overflowing abundance of shad and salmon, 
and the west woods abounded in deer, wolves, and panthers. 

In the forest up the mountain, and especially in the interval between 
the first and second range, was their common jilace of pasturage, and 
this portion of the town was long reserved for that use. The meeting- 
house lot was as yet a noble common of several acres. A canoe with 
ropes was furnished at the north end of the street, by which the 
river was crossed, as it was not until 1725 that the first bridge was 
erected at this place. At the annual town-meeting no man might be 
absent who valued his twelvepence. Then were chosen the townsmen, 
the register, the fence-viewers, the chimney-viewers, — so necessary in 
those days of wooden mantels, of 

ill-constructed chimneys, and of enor- /Z^O \lP / //? • 

mous fires, — their tithing-men, and ' J^'^'X Y/(\.ci^ rOOt^xK . 
last, not least, their one constable, 

who was to them the right arm of the king himself ; a functionary 

/*7 ^— treated with reverent awe and obeyed with 

iiliCLLCLfTl df^arUT^ implicit deference. Whosoever resisted 

' ^\ "^ the power, resisted the ordinance of God. 

V ^ Two men besides Mr. Hooker bore the 

appellation of Mr., — Anthony Howkins and John Wadsworth. Nor 
may we forget to name Captain William Lewis, Captain John Stanley, 
Ensign Thomas Hart, and Seroeant William Judd. 



168 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Their communication with the other towns was infrequent. Occa- 
sionally a traveller would appear by the path from Hartford, with news 
from their friends and kindred there, or a message of alarm from his 
Excellency the Governor, and now and then some one would emerge 
from the forest by the "New Haven path" with tidings from that 
commercial emporium or from the lands beyond the seas. 

The Indians were still here by hundreds. Within the slip of land 
reserved for them near the village their canoes might be seen every day 
filling the little creek that put in from the river, and their owners were 
stalking along the streets, now trying the Indian's cunning, and now 
frowning with the Indian's wrath. A few were gathered into the 
Christian church, a few admitted as freemen ; and a missionary school, 
embracing sometimes fifteen or sixteen, was taught by Mr. Newton and 
■ perhaps by Mr. Hooker. 

From the first, however, the relations of the settlers with the Tunxis 
Indians were usually friendly. No outbreak of a hostile character 
ever arose between them. Whenever dissatisfaction was apparent, the 
Indians were assembled, treated with kindness, and "gratified with 
presents." 

For their title to the lands, our fathers rested upon the original 
agreement with Sequasson, the sachem of Suckiaug, and chief sachem 
of the neighboring tribes. But for the sake of satisfying the natives, 
this title was afterward confirmed by two successive agreements, the 
first in 1650, the second in 1673. 

In the first of these it is taken for granted that " the magistrates 
bought the whole country to the Moohawks country, of Sequasson i the 
chief sachem." Then it is noted that the Indians at that time yielded 
up all their grounds under improvement, and received " ground in place 
together compased about with a creke and trees." This was now to be 
staked out, and " although the English had bargained for the gras for 
their cows, yet this they let go." This reservation was that finest por- 
tion of the meadow still called " the Indian Neck." 

It is added, " that the peace and plenty that they have had and 
enjoyed by the presence of the English, in regard of protection of them, 
and trade with them, makes more to the advantage and comfort of the 
Indians, though they hire some land, than ever they enjoyed before the 
coming of the English, when all the lands was in their own disposal ; 
and although they do hire in regard of the increase of their company, 
yet their corn aiid skins will give a good price, which will counterbal- 
ance much more than the hire of their lands, and therefore the Indians 
have reason to live loveingly among the English by whom their lives 
are preserved, and their estates and comfort advantaged. ... In this 
we the chief Indians, in the name of all the rest acknowledge, and we 
engage ourselves to make no quarrels about this matter." This agree- 
ment was signed by John Haynes and Pethus and Ahamo his son, with 
their heraldic devices. It was witnessed by Stephen Hart, Thomas Judd, 
Thomas Thomson, Isaak More, Thomas Stanton, and Roger Newton. 

By the second treaty there were reserved to the Indians two hundred 
acres of upland, which they are forbidden to sell without leave, together 
with the Indian Neck. There is also given a map of the land sold, as 

' Also sometimes spelled Suncquasson, as on page 163. 



FARMnCOTON. 169 

measured from Wopansock, that is, the Round Hill, ten miles south, 
eight west, three miles east, and five miles north. This is sijjned hy 
twenty-six Indians, chiefs, squaws, and sons, with their appropriate 
devices. 

In 16'^1 Massacope prives a qiiit-elainj deed of all this land. He was 
prolialily a Maltaln'si'tt Indian, ami with liis son sitrns (lie a^rreoiiR-nt for 
valuable cousideralions, and " gratilieation at the time of sale." Not 
satisfied with the limits as speeihed in the deed, he went out and for 
himself examined and marked the Ijoundaries. 

Notwithstanding all these precautions, the early settlers of this town 
were occasionally moved to fear and alarm. In 1012 the General Court 
took measures in reference to a hostile gathering and plot of the Indians 
about Tunxis. In 1057 the house of John Ilart was destroyed by 
fire, and his family consumed, with 

the exception of one son. In the //-.-^ ^'^ <,/ f^^J^^ 

same year Mr. Scott was cruelly Qy<^^n JtUrt S^TV 
murdered. The house of Mr. Hart 

was near the centre of the village, that of Mr. Scott on the border of 
"the great plains." Both these acts were ascribed to Meshupano, as 
principal, and his accessories. For firing the house the Farmington In- 
dians paid each year a heavy tribute for seven years, " eighty faddome of 
wampum, well strung and merchantable." The year after, complaint was 
made of the bullets shot into the town fnmi the garri.son of the natives, 
and also of their entertainment of strange Indians, and they were ordered 
to find another garrison. In KJii'J we find them quarrelling with the 
Podunks of Windsor. From 1040 to 1720, eighty years, this town had 
fronted an almost uniiroken forest which extended from the wooded hori- 
zon which we see from the village street, westward to the Ilousatouic 
and northwestward to Lake George. This was the limit iiig-ground of 
the Tunxis tribe and the marauding-ground of the dreaded ilohawk, who 
might appear either as the foe of his timid subject, or perchance as his 
ally for the destruction of the whites. For the first sixty years there 
was a numerous and not always friendly triiie in a garri.son and village 
almost within musket-shot of the church.' In 1675 Simsbury. then 
Massaco, a frontier settlement to the north, was deserted by its inhaiji- 
tants — some forty families — and totally burned. So complete was the 
desolation, that the returning settlers found it diflieiilt to discover the 
places where their eftects had been secreted. The church erected in 
1708 was provided with "guard seats," as they were called, where some 
ten to twenty men could be on the lookout near the doors against a 
sudden assaidt. The space for these .seats was relini|iiished in 1720 for 
the erection of jiews fi>r eight families, with the provision that the pews 
should be surrendered should there be siibse(|uent occasion to mount 
a guard. Later than this, on some occasion of alarm increased i)y the 
presence of strange Indians, the men of the Tunxis trilie were required 
to present themselves daily at the house of Deacon Lee, and pass in 
review before his daughter, whom they both admired and feared. Dea- 
con Lee lived a little distance northward from the centre on the west 

' Early in 1657 an Indian killed a woman and her maid and fired tbc house, occasioning 
the destruction of several buildings. The Indiana were forced to deliver up ths munlerer, who 
wn» brouKlit to Hartford and executed " ns a butcher fells an ox." — IHary o/ John Hull, 
Tranaactiona and Puilicatioru of the Americtin Antiquarian Soeie/y, vol. iii. p. 180. 



170 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

side of the street. The Indian garrison and \dllage extended southward 
to the point of land at the confluence of the Pequabuck and the Tunxis 
rivers. It is very easy to perceive the reason why this place was 
selected as their chief residence. It is not easy even now to walk^ along' 
the brow of the hill which overlooks the reservation so long styled the 
Indian Neck, without picturing the rude wigwams scattered along tliis 
sunny terrace, with canoes idly floating below on the stream, which was 
filled with shad and salmon, while the deer were abundant in the forest 
that stretched westward and northward to the Mohawk country. It is 
pleasant to find, in 1751, liberty granted to the Christianized Indians 
to build themselves a seat in the meeting-house in the northeast corner 
over the stairs. From the Colony Records for 1733, 1734, and 1736, 
ap])ropriations are ordered from the public treasury for " dieting of the 
Indian lads at 4 shillings per week for the time thev attend the school 
in said town." In 1734 .£33 6s. were paid ; in 1736^ £28. In 1689 and 
1704, which were years of alarm from distant Indians, houses were 
fortified, and stores of ammunition were provided. These fortified 
houses were strongly guarded by double doors and nari'ow windows. 
The years named were years of alarm throughout New England, as in 
consequence of war between England and France the colonies were 
threatened with incursions from the north and cast by French and 
Indians. Relays of men were called for to serve in the two or three 
desperate wars in which the French and Indians combined for the posses- 
sion of the northern and western line of posts, and in whicli victory for 
the French might bring the tomahawk and the torch into this valley. 

In 1740 the Indian boys were so many and so strong that they 
were esteemed more than a match for the whites of the same age. 
About the middle of the century, as game became scarce, the renmants 
of the tribe removed, first to Stockbridge, and afterward to Oneida 
County, New York, and finally to Green Bay in Wisconsin. A fragment 
remained behind till they became extinct. The last male of unmixed 
blood was buried Dec. 21, 1820, the day which completed the second 
century from the landing at Plymouth Rock, while the only siu'viving 
female stood trembling by the grave. Tradition relates that during the 
ministry of Mr. Whitman, the Stockbridge tribe invaded the Tunxis 
Indians near their homes. They were met l)y the Tunxis tribe in 
battle array, in the little meadow two miles north of the village. The 
latter were at first routed and driven back upon their ancient burying- 
place. There they rallied, and by the assistance of their squaws, who 
attacked the flank of the foe, they drove back the invaders with defeat 
and almost entire destruction. After the removal of the greater portion 
of the tribe to Oneida, they often visited their friends and sepulchres 
here, and on such visits would hold dances at the old buryiug-place, and 
evening powwows, and give splendid exhibitions of their agility and 
strength. There are not a few living who remember the Indian reser- 
vation and the frequent appearance in the village of the descendants of 
the ancient tribe on visits of begging and traffic. 

In 1840, by order of the School Society of Farmington, a monumen- 
tal block of red sandstone was erected to the memory of these Indians. 
It stands in the new burying-ground on the edge of the river. The spot 
is one of sad historical interest, as the following inscription on one side 
of the monument explains : — 



FARMINGTON. 171 

IN MEMORY OF THE INDIAN RACE ; ESPECIALLY 

OK rUE TUXXIS TRinE, THE ANCIENT 

TENANTS OF TUESE GROUNDS. 

Thf many hurmtn skektmts litre dUcovered confirm tlie tradition thnl thin xpot 
was fortnerly ait Indian, biiri/ingphice. Tradition furtlur declarer it to be 
the ground on which a sunguinnry battle uxi» /ought lietiofen the Tunxis and 
StockhriJge tribes. Some of their scattered remains fiave been re-interred beneath 
this stone. 

Tlic reverse side of the inonuinoiit hears the followiiifc 'ines : — 

"Chieftains of n vanished nice, 
In your amient burial jilaee, 
By your fatliei-s' ashes blest. 
Now in pe.iie si-ourely n-st. 
Since on life you lookeil your last. 
Changes o'er your land have passed ; 
Strangers oanie with imn sway, 
And your tritn^s liave passed away. 
But your fate shall cherL'ihed be, 
In the strangers' memory; 
Virtue long her watch shall keep, 
Whore the red-men's ashes sleep." 

Tlie church was nrpjanizcd in 10i')2, or, as the record has it, " T^pon 
the lotli of October ^[r. Ro<;cr Newton, Stephen flart, Thomas .Fiidd, 
John Bronson, John Cole, Thonias Thomson, and Robert Porter 
joined in Church Covenant in Farniington." Of this church Roirer 
Newton was the first pastor. Steplicn Hart had been a member of 
the oriprinal cluirch of Thomas Hooker. It is added, " About one 
month after myself [John Steele, 
the clerk], Mrs. Newton, tlie wife 
of Stejihen Hart, the wife of 
Thomas >Tndd, the wife of .John 
Cole, and the wife of Thomas Thomson." Mr. Newton was one of " those 
young scholars" mentioned iiy Cotton Mntiicr, who came over from Eng- 
land with their friends and completeil their education in this country. 
He married Mary, the datighter of Mr. Thomas Hooker, of Hartford, and 
probably completed his edneatinn under his instruction. He remained 
here till lt358, generally ap])roved, when he removed by invitation to 
the more ancient and larger church at Milford, where he labored with 
acceptance till his deatii, in 1083. flis widow becami* one of the eighty- 
four proprietors of the town, and inherited the farm of Governor 
Hopkins in Farmington. 

In July, liitil, Mr. Samnel Hooker, son of Thomas Hooker. " the 
light of the western churches," was installed the ]>astor of this church, 
^ ^ having received his ilegree at Harvard 

^ aMu vt ^u er/S/TC . ("olloge in Itl'iS. He continued to be its 
pastor until his death, Nov. Ti, l(i97, and 
was esteemed " an animated and |)ious divine." He was. according 
to the testimony of the Rev. Mr. Pitkin. " an excellent preacher, his 
composition good, his address pathetic, warm, anil engaging." and as 
story relates, he infornn^d a friend of his that lie had three things to do 
with his .sermons liefore lie tleljvered them in [iiiblic, — '' to write them, 
commit them unto his memory, and get them into his heart." 



1^<^^^ Cyi^^y^Qcrtv^t^ 



172 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

He was a Fellow of Harvard College, and was employed in 1662, one 
of a committee of four to treat with New Haven in reference to a union 
with Connecticut, and was esteemed througliout the State an eminent 
and influential minister. He twice preached the annual election sermon, 
for which he received a special vote of commendation and thanks. His 
name, with that of three other citizens, was appended to the address to 
King William of Orange after the glorious Revolution of 1688. Cotton 
Mather says of him, at the conclusion of the life of his father, " As 
Ambrose would say concerning Theodosius, ' Non totus recessit, reliquit 
nobis liberos in quibus eum debemus agnoscere ct in quibus eum cerni- 
mus et tenemus ; ' thus we have to this day among us our dead Hooker 
yet living in his worthy son, Mr. Samuel Hooker, an able, faithful, use- 
ful minister at Farmington, in the colony of Connecticut." He was a 
large landholder, and had eleven children, and among his descendants 
are named many of the most distinguished families and individuals of 
New England. His daughter Mary married the Rev. Mr. Pierpont, 
of New Haven, and was the mother of Sarah, the wife of Jonathan 
Edwards. 

Next to the church (or rather as essential to the continuance and the 
prosperity of the church), in the estimation of our fathers, was ranked 
the school. Through the deficiency of our early records we cannot 
trace the vestiges of their earliest care ; but as far back as we can find 
regular records of their proceedings, we find its wants, as wei'C those 
of the church, tlie annual care of the town. In December, 1682, the 
town voted £10 toward maintaining a school, and appointed a com- 
mittee to employ a teacher. In December, 1683, they made the same 
appropriation, and ordered every man to pay four shillings a quarter for 
every child that should be sent. Again, they voted "• to give <£30 for a 
man to teach school for one 3'ear, provided they can have a man tliat 
is so accomplished as to teach children'to read and write, and to teach 
the grammar, and also to step into the pulpit to be helpful there in 
time of exigency, and this school to be a fi'ce school for this town." 
In another vote about this period they ordered the services of a teacher 
to be secured who could teach Latin also. 

Year by year we find similar I'ecords, till 1700, when the colonial 
assembly having directed forty shillings on every .£1000 in the grand 
levy to be devoted to education, this town voted to add to the same 
a sufficient sum to maintain the schools for a certain portion of the 
year. 

In the second century of its history the town steadily increased in 
populatioH, although the population seemed slow to spread itself beyond 
the reach of the social and other attractions of the village. It was not 
so easy to subdue the forest as it became n century later. Either the 
colonial axes or the skill of those who wielded them has been surpassed 
by those of later generations. " The earlier settlers of New England 
for many other reasons dwelt in villages. Among tliese reasons were 
the fear of wolves and Indians and the desire to be near the meeting- 
house," with all that this signified. The fertile and ample meadows, 
witli the generous uplands that opened directly upon them, also tended 
to hold this community together. Of the outlying lauds the eastern 
farms on the gentle slope east of the mountain range were settled first, 



FARMINGTON. 173 

then the beautiful region since called tlic Stanley Quarter, opening 
toward the Matlabcsett ; while here and tliere an adventurous i)lanter 
or family firou|) was l)()ld enmigh to penetrate into the forest (jr upon 
the Great Plains and beyond, toward the south an<l southwest. 

It is not sur|irisiug that itcfore ITiitJ no schools were maintained 
except two in the village. Tlio lirst school supported without the 
village was the one uj)on the Eastern Farms. The Great Plain was 
still uncleared, and it might bo bought for a dollar the acre. Wild 
animals were aljundant in the West Woods. So late as 1730 bounties 
were paid for wolves and wild-cats, and later than this a bear was shot 
by a little girl of fourteen, in Hristol, while the family were absent at 
meeting in Farmiugton. Venison was sold in the streets as late as 
the Revolution, and shad and salmon were caught from the river. 

I find also a record, about 1720, of a cession of a consideralde tract 
of upland to several individuals, on condition that it should be sown with 
English grass. The meadows were still unmarked by dividing fences, 
and the I'ine Woods till 1740 were burnt over for a pasture, to which 
the |)eople in the eastern towns drove their young cattle in the spring. 

During this period, until after the War of the Revolution, the town 
as a whole gained largely in the wealtii that was gathered from the soil. 
The population increased rapidly in large and sturdy households. Fre- 
quent calls were made for its young men to contend with the Indians 
in Massachusetts, at the Northwest, and in Acadia ; and thus the strug- 
gle for existence and growth was constantly maintained, as also a con- 
stant moral and religious discipline, by wars and pestilence, to say 
nothing of the theological controversies and the |)olitical discussions 
which tasked the thjughts and exercised the faith of these vigorous 
men and faithful women, until they were called to shai'c in the first 
great struggle for national life from 1775 to 1783. 

The original church and parish has from the first been more than 
usually exempt from controversies, although it has not been entirely 
without ecclesiastical contention. During nearly ten years after the 
death of Mr. Hooker, there was a sharp controversy in the town in 
reference to a minister, which called for the interference and authority 
of the General Court. At a General Court held 1702, '• the town of 
Farmiugton lal)oriug under great difficulties in reference to the calling 
and settling of a minister among them, and other ecclesiastical concerns, 
certain of the inhabitants made their address to this General Assembly, 
praying for counsel and relief. In answer whcrcunto, this assendjly doth 
order and direct them to seek counsel and help from the Rev. Elders, 
namely, the Rev. Jlr. Ai)ram Pierson, Jlr. Jaines Xoyes, Jlr Taylor, 
Mr. N. Russ(d, Mr. Samuel Russel, and ilr. Tlimnas Ruggles, or any 
five of them, whom this assembly doth direct to be helpful unto them, 
and (unless the said inhabitants shall agree among them.selves, etc.) to 
nominate and appoint a minister for them, ami in case the minister so 
nominated ami appointed will undertake this work, this assembly doth 
hereby order that said inhabitants of Farmington shall entertain him 
for one year, and also )iay to him such salary as hath lieen usual and 
customary among theui." The town otVicers were also ap]K)inted by the 
General Court. In 1704 the General Court directed the same ministers 
as above to procure a minister for the inhabitants of Farmington " who 



174 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

are hereby ordered to receive him and to pay him as formerly until tliis 
court do order otherwise, or until they agree among themselves." In 
1705 messengers were sent to Nantascot, near Boston, to confer with 
Mr. Samuel Whitman. So great was the zeal of the people, that they 
proposed to pay to any one who would lend money to bear the expenses 
of their messengers, two shillings for one shilling lent, till the time of 
«»/•/» *^^^ next minister's rate. Their offers of salary 

^<rJ<»t Ujfi-H-ynci^x^ were very liberal: first, <£90 a year, with the 
use of the parsonage in the Pequabuck mead- 
ows, as also forty acres of land in fee, and a house, he finding glass and 
nails. The year after, £200 were voted as a settlement, a salary of 
£100, and his firewood. Wheat at that time was five shillings and 
threepence per bushel. Mr. Whitman was settled in 1706. In 1708, 
as he proposed to visit his friends at Boston, the town by their vote 
provided for the payment of the service and expenses of a " waighting 
man " to attend their minister. He was a graduate of Harvard College 
in 1696, and, in the words of Mr. Pitkin, " was a gentleman of strong 
mind and sound judgment ; his sermons correct, accurate, and in.struc- 
tive ; his delivery and public address calm and moderate ; he was highly 
esteemed and greatly improved in ecclesiastical councils, and was 
esteemed a truly learned man." He died in 1751. 

The following resolution, adopted in the second year of Mr. Whit- 
man's ministry, is of some interest. At a church-meeting in Farmington 
in the year 1708, " Agreed that such persons as own the covenant per- 
sonally shall be accounted under the watch and discipline of the church 
though not admitted to full communion." 

At a meeting, Nov. 26, 1730, the rule was adopted that those bap- 
tized persons who proposed to own the covenant, and had previously 
fallen into gross or scandalous sin should publicly profess repentance 
for that sin by its name, and then make the following covenant with 
the church : — 

" You do solemnly avouch the Lord God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in 
whose name you have been baptized, to be your God ; and jarofessing a serious 
belief of the Holy Scriptures to be His word, do take them to be the onlj- rule of 
your faith and manners, renouncing whatever you know to be contrary to them. 
You take the Lord Jesus Christ to be your only Saviour and Eedeemer, depend- 
ing on Him for righteousness and strength, that you may be pardoned and ac- 
cepted of God, and walk in all sincere obedience to His commandments. You 
do also submit yourself to the discipline and government of Christ in his church 
and to the regular administrations of it in this church of His while Providence 
shall continue you here ; promising not to rest in present attainments but to be 
laborious after a preparation for the enjoyment of God in all his ordinances." 

During Mr. Whitman's ministry the second meeting-house was 
begun in 1709 and completed in 1714. This second church was fifty 
feet square, with height proportional, and furnished with a cupola or 
turret, which tradition has always placed in the centre, from which 
the bell-rope was suspended so soon as a bell was provided. How hard 
it was to build the church of 1709-1772, and how rude it was when 
built, is obvious from the fact that the first tax of a penny in a pound 
was spent in procuring the nails. Another vote respected the glass 
and lead. Another directs that " it be ceiled with good sawn boards 



FARMINGTON. 175 

on the within side up to the railings and filled with mortar up to the 
girts." Later, thouglitfulne.ss of the fierce northwesters suggested the 
vote that the inortur should he continued along the second story. 
Two tiers of new seats were ordered, one on each side the aisle which 
extended to the east d<jor. It follows from this and other notices, 
that tlio iioiiso stood along the street to the northwest of the site of the 
present edifice, that the pulpit was on the west side, and the entrances 
were from the north and south and east. The seats from the first 
house were proijably removed to the second, and were placed facing 
the pulpit, except the two new ones, which, it may be conjectured, 
filled the space not covered by the old seats, now transferred to a 
larger house. Mrs. Whitman, the pastor's wife, sat in a pew at the 
south, that is, the right iiand of tlie pulpit, but this pew was built at 
Mr. Whitman's expense, and after his decease it was purchased l>y the 
society. In 1731 the purchase of a bell was ordered, and in 1738 a 
town clock. Before the bell was provided, the beat of drum called the 
people together on Sundays and public days at a cost of XI 10«. the 
year. New seats were next ordered for the gallery ; now and then a 
pew was erected at the expense of its occupants. In 175".l the society 
ordered all the seats except those in front to be pulled down and 
replaced by pews. In 174(J a conunittec was appointed to repair the 
house and see " what can be done to prevent its spreading." From 
that time onward it was doomed to destruction. 

The most serious ecclesiastical disturbance which occurred during 
the ministry of Mr. Whitman was occasioned by the "new way of 
singing." It would a|)pear from tiie records of several meetings of the 
church that the result for a time was douljtful. The following reso- 
lution, passed by the parish, March, 1720-7, decided for the old 
way : — 

" This iiieeliug taking into consideration the unhappy controversy that hath 
been among us respecting singing of Psalms in our public assemblies upon the 
Sabbath, and fonisraucii as the churcii in this place hath several limes in iheir 
meetings manifested their dislike of singing psalms according to the method not 
long since endeavored to be introduced among us, being the same way of singing 
of psahns which is recommended by tlie reverend ministers of Boston, with other 
ministers to the number in all of twenty or thereabouts ; therefore that the con- 
troversy may be ended, and ])eace gained for this society, this meeting by their 
major vote do declare their full satisfaction with the former way of singing of 
psalms in this society and do earnestly desire to continue therein, and do with 
the church manifest their dislike of singing according to the said method 
endeavored to Ije introduced aforesaid." 

In 1757 the tables were turned, for the society voted and agreed 
that tiiey would introduce Mr. Watts's Version of the Psalms to be 
sung on the Sabljath and otl^er solemn meetings in the room of the 
version that hath Ijcen previously u.sed. At the same meeting Elijah 
Cowles was requested to tune the Psalm, and that he shall sit in the 
fifth pew. In 1762 Mr. Fi.sher Gay was chosen to assist Elijali Cowles 
in setting the psalm, and he shuuid sit in the ninth pew on the north 
side thf alley, and .'Stephen Dorcliester was chosen to a.ssist the choris- 
ters in reading the p.salm. In April, 1773, the spring after tlie present 
house was first occupied, a choir was allowed by the following vote : 




176 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

" Voted, That the people who have learned the rule of singing, have liberty 
to sit near together in the same position as they sat this day at their singing meeting 
and they have liberty to assist in carrying on that part of divine worship." 

In 1752 the Rev. Timothy Pitkin was installed the fourth pastor 
of the church. He Avas graduated at Yale College in 1747, was the 
son of William Pitkin, Governor of the State, was a member of the cor- 
poration of Yale College from 1777 till 1804, was dismissed at his own 

request, and died 
June 8, 1811, in the 
eighty-fifth year of 
his age. He mar- 
ried the daughter 
of President Clap, 
and by his own re- 
sources and tliose 
of his wife did much 
for the refinement 
of his parish. How rude was its condition in some particulars at least 
may be judged by this oft-repeated story. When he brought home his 
wife, they rode in an open four-wheeled carriage. The older and more 
respectable men of the town went out to meet their pastor and his lady, 
and escort them home. They were of course eagerly on the lookout 
for the first glimpse of the expected company. When the phaeton 
came in sight, one of the older men cried out, " I see the cart, I see 
the cart ! " 

Of the impression which he made upon children, the late Professor 
Olmsted testifies by this apostrophe : — 

" Friends and companions of my childhood ! Do you not see him coming 
in at yonder door, habited in his flowing blue cloak with his snow-white wig and 
tri-eornered hat of the olden timel Do you not see him wending his way through 
the aisle to the pulpit, bowing on either side with the dignity and grace of the 
old nobility of Connecticut ? Do you not still follow him as he ascends the pul- 
pit stairs, clinging to the railing to maintain with seeming ambition the wonted 
vivacity of his step, now enfeebled by age]" 

Mr. Pitkin was more than a courtly gentleman and a kindly friend. 
He was a man of fervent piety and earnest spirit, who sympathized with 
Whitefield and his movements, and invited him to his pulpit. Dui'ing 
his ministry the practice of owning the covenant was abandoned by a 
decisive vote of the church. Of this event Dr. Porter writes thus : — 

" Late in life he is remembered to have said to a friend with deep emotion, 
'The breaking up of that halfway covenant nearly cost me my ministerial life.' 
In this remark he is supposed to have had reference to an incident which my 
father mentioned to me, and which explains the final action of the church on that 
subject. The question was put, ' Shall the practice of admitting persons to own 
the covenant without coming to the Lord's Supper be from this time discon- 
tinued ? ' A majority of this church were in the negative. Whereupon Mr. 
Pitkin said, ' Then I can no longer be your pastor ; ' at which the motion was 
made and carried ' to leave the whole affair with the pastor, and the meeting was 
dismissed.' " 




THE REV. TIMOTHY PITKIN 



FARMIXGTON. 177 

The final action of the clnirch was taken April 18, 1781. The fol- 
lowing sketch of iiis pastoial life and estimate of his usefulness was 
made by the late Governor Treadwell : — 

" Mr. Pitkin w.os a good classic scholar, ami had acquired by reading and 
extonsivo acqiuiintanco with gentlomcu of information and science a general 
knowledge of men and things; particularly of passing events both at lioiuo and 
abroad. Ho was a gentleman of polisiied manners and of a communicative dis- 
position, which assemblage of qualities, together witli a spriglitly air and manner, 
made him very engaging and instructive in conversation ; so tliat but few persons 
of taste ever left his comjiany without having been entertained, nml, if not owing 
to their own fault, improved. Besides being eminently pious, and knowing how 
to accommodate himself to the character and attainments of those with wliom he 
conversed, he was able to speak a word in season tiiat would plrase, and either 
edify or reprove, and he was very happy in so shaping liis remarks as to leave 
a savor of religion, or at least a serious impression, on the mind. 

"A popular address was his j)rovince. In this he delighted and in this he 
excelled. Hence there w.is want of variety in his sermons, which his many excel- 
lent qualities could not fully compensate. The reverse wiiich took place some 
years before he resigned his ministry was painfid to him and his people. An- 
other generation had arisen which knew not Jo.sei)h. Tiiey rcganled him indeed 
with affection ; still .Mr. Pitkin saw, or thought he saw, a wide difference between 
that affection and the admiration of the former generation. For a time he gave 
up his s;ilary and continued his labors. The volunt:uy coutiibutions made him 
by the people were small. This confirmed him in opinion that a coldness had 
taken place, and that his usefulness among them was at an end. A council was 
called ; he urged before them his want of health and that he had no further pros- 
pect of being useful here, and requested to he dismissed from his people. The 
society opposed, but the council complied witli Ids request, and dismissed him. 
Since that time Mr. Pitkin has preached occasionally in various places, but for 
the most part has lived retired. Ho has, however, Ijeen very useful in praying 
with the congregation in the absence of a minister, in visiting and praying with 
the sick, in attending funerals, in praying and expounding the Scriptures at con- 
ferences, in conversing with and assisting and counselling such as were under 
religious concern, and in other pious endeavors to promote the interests of relig- 
ion among us. On the whole, his life was dignitied and useful, his death was 
peaceful, and his memory will be blessed." 

It was during Mr. Pitkin's pastorate that the present .spacious 
meeting-house was erected. The first recorded movement toward the 
erection of tliis building was on Feb. 2, 1707. On the 30th of Decemhcr 
three builders, probal)ly residing in the neighboring parishes, were 
selected as a committee. They reported in April. 1768, that the old 
nieetingdiouse was not worth repairing. It was not, however, until 
Feb. (■>, 17t)0,fhat the decisive vote was taken ((ifty-thrce against twelve) 
to build a new edilice. In December, 1770, tlie movements became 
earnest and decisive. In Xovend)er, 1772, it was voted to meet in it fi>r 
regular worship. The two peisons who deserve to be nauu'd as active 
in its construction arc Colonel Fisher Gay and Captain Jndah AVoodruff. 
Mr. Gay was one of the two or three leading merchants of the village, 
and a public-spirited and intelligent man. In obedience to the vote of 
17(50 he and Captain Woodruff went to Boston for the timber, which 
was ijrought from the then Province of Maine, and was of the (dmicest 
quality. Captain WoodrufY was the architect and master-builder, and 
tie tools with which he wrought are many of them preserved to this 

vol,. II. — 12. 



178 



MEMORIAL HISTOEY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



day. The interior of this house was divided on the ground floor by 
aisles as at present, except that a row of square pews was placed along 
the walls on every side, a pew in each corner, with one or two benches 
by the north and the south doors. An aisle extended from the west door 
to the pulpit, as at present, another aisle from the south to the north 
door, the two dividing the body of the house into four blocks, each con- 
taining six pews. All these remained unpainted until they were removed 
in 1836, and in them all not a defect or knot was to be seen. Looking 
down upon the middle aisle was the formidable pulpit, with a window 
behind it. It was reached by a staircase on the north side, and was 
overhung by a wondrous canopy of wood, rounded somewhat like the 




THE PRESENT MEETING-HOUSE. 



dome of a Turkish mosque, and attached to the wall behind by some 
hidden mechanical mystery, which stimulated the speculative inquiries 
of tlie boys long before they could comprehend the graver mysteries 
to which it was supposed to give resonant emphasis. Along the front 
of the pulpit was the deacons' seat, in which sat two worthies whose 
saintly dignity shone with added lustre and solemnity on the days of 
holy communion. The gallery was surrounded by a row of pews with 
three rows of long benches in front, rising, as is usual, above one 
another. In the winter of 1825-1826 the pews and the long seats in 
the gallery were demolished, and slips with doors were substituted for 
them, for more private and special occupation. In 1836 the pews 
were removed from the floor, the old pulpit and sounding-board dis- 
appeared, new windows were made with blinds, etc., at a cost of some 
$2,186.70. It was not until 1824 that stoves were introduced. Pre- 
vious to this period foot-stoves were the sole substitute, for the filling 



FARin^roTON. 179 

of wliich the pcoplo from a distance wore rlependpnt on tlie liberal fires 
which were koiit biirninir at the hospitalile iiousos in the vicinity. 
The place where this ludise was erected was known as the Meeting- 
House Green as early as ITlS, and a new school-house was directed 
to be built upon the place with this designation, '• near where the old 
chestnut-tree stood," which was doubtless oiu> of the noble remnants 
of the original forest. As early as 174:3 a general ijcrniissiou was 
granted to such farmers as lived at a distance to erect small houses 
along the fences on either side of this green for their comfort on the 
Sal)bath, or, as it was jihrased, for "their duds and horses." Two 
such houses .stood on the east line, near the town pound, within the 
memory of manv,as late aslSlS <u-lS20. The cost of the building was 
^17oO"l-Jx. 10^7.. of which Mr. Pitkin contributed -£20. 

Mr. Pitkin was dismis.scd at his own request, June IS, 1785, and 
died in LSI 2. 

Mr. Pitkin was succeeded by the Rev. Allen Olcott, who was or- 
dained January, 1787, and dismissed August, 1791. He was an able 
but rather unattractive man, and his ministry was attended with sharp 
and continued divisions, although neither his Christian nor general 
character was called in question. He died in Orford, New Hampshire, 
August, 1806. 

Four years afterward the divisions were still more threatening, for 
they wei'e aggravated by a sharp and positive hostility on the part of 
many influential men against the new light, or Ilojjkinsian preaching. 
Mr. Edward Dorr Grithn, afterward so distinguished and so well 
known, preached as a candidate in the fervor of his youth, with the 
glow of his soaring imagination and the l)rilliancy of his imposing 
rhetoric. His jireaching was attractive and powerful, and it made 
a strong impression on the young and the old. Many were awakened 
to new convictions, and began, as they thought, a new life. Many were 
ve.xed and disturbed, and conceived a determined hostility to the fear- 
less and defiant preacher. The old strifes were reawakened and became 
more bitter than ever. A decided majority gave Mr. (Jrillin a call ; 
but a large minority opposed him, — twenty-four to seventy-three. He 
accepted the call after a delay of nearly live months. A council was 
convened which declined to install him against so strong an opposition, 
but advised the calling of another council, to which the society con- 
sented by a small majority, — the vote standing sixty-two to forty-one. 
Meanwhile some reports were circulated unfavorable to the character 
of Mr. (JrifHn,and his opponents made use of them before the council. 
When this body convened, the house was packed as never before or 
since, with an excited auditory. The spokesman for his opponents was 
arrayed in full ]irofcssi(inal attire, and made showy denunciations against 
Mr. Grilhn's re]tutarion. The council acquitted the candidate of the 
charges, but advised that ^, jn /r D 

he should withdraw his ^ /y M^ yj/'/^ 

letterofacceptancc.which 7yC<fj)/i'^ r/c»^^'^l<K^.C^1'1^^ 

he did, and tiie storm was // <=::::^^±r> 

allayed. In a few months ""— ^ 

after, in the same year, the Rev. Joseph Washburn came among this 
people, a mcs.senger of peace and of blessing, a man of quiet dignity 
and winning ways, who united all hearts, exorcised the spirit of bitter- 



180 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

ness and dissensiou, and bronght peace to the parish. Mr. Washburn 
was ordained May 7, 1795, and died at sea on his way to Charleston, 
South Carolina, Dec. 25, 1805. From 1795 to 1799 there were special 
revivals of religion, which are narrated in the first volume of the 
Connecticut " Evangelical Magazine." A volume of his sermons was 
published after his death. 

Up to the War of Independence, the town steadily increased in 
wealth and population. It was divided into several parishes, but it was 
not until 1779 that Southington was incorporated as a separate town, 
the first of many others. The whole of the town took an earnest and 
excited interest in the Revolutionary movements, and furnished men 
enough to make a regiment. How spirited was its zeal and noble its 
sacrifices will appear from the following resolutions, which were passed 
at different town-meetings, when the spacious new church was crowded 
at times by more than a thousand men : — 

" At a very full meeting of the Inhabitants of the Town of Farmington, 
Legally warned and held in said Farmingtou, the I5th day of June, 1774, Colonel 
John Strong, Moderator : — 

" Voted, That the act of Parliament for blocking up the Port of Boston is an 
Invasion of the Rights and Privileges of every American, and as sucli we are De- 
termined to oppose the same, with all other such arbitrary and tyrannical acts in 
every suitable Way and Manner, that may be adopted in General Congress : to 
the Intent we may be instrumental in Securing and Transmitting our Eights 
and Privileges Inviolate, to the Latest Posterity. 

" That the fate of American freedom Greatly Depends upon the Conduct of 
the Inhabitants of the Town of Boston in the Present Alarming Crisis of Public 
affairs : We therefore entreat them by Every thing that is Dear and Sacred, to 
Persevere with Unremitted Vigilence and Resolution, till their Labour shall be 
crowned with the desired Success. 

" That as many of the inhabitants of the town of Boston, must, in a short 
time be reduced to the Utmost Distress, in Consequence of their Port Bill, we 
deem it our indispensable Duty, by every Effectual and Proper Method, to assist 
in affording them speedy Relief. 

" In pursuance of which Fisher Gay, Selah Hart, Stephen Hotchkiss, Esqs., 
and Messrs. Samuel Smith, Noadiah Hooker, Amos Wadsworth, Simeon Strong, 
James Percival, Elijah Hooker, Mathew Cole, Jonathan Root, Josiah Cowles, 
Daniel Lankton, Jonathan Andrews, Jonathan Woodruff, Aaron Day, Timothy 
Clark, Josiah Lewis, Hezekiali Gridley, Jr., Asa Upsou, Amos Barnes, Stephen 
Barnes, Jr., Ichabod Xorton, Joseph Miller, WiUiam Woodford, Jedidiah Nor- 
ton, Jr., Gad Stanley, John Lankton, Elnathan Smith, Thos. Upson, Elisha 
Booth, Samuel North, Jr., Theo. Hart, and Resen Gridley be a committee, with 
all convenient speed, to take in subscriptions : Wheat, Rye, Indian corn, and 
other provisions of the Inhabitants of this Town, and to Collect and Transport 
the same to the Town of Boston, tliere to be delivered to the Select Men of the 
Town of Boston, to bo by them Distributed at their Discretion, to those who 
are incapacitated to procure a necessary subsistence in consequence of the late 
oppressive JNIeasures of Administration. 

" That William Judd, Fisher Gay, Selah Hart, and Stephen Hotchkiss, Esqs., 
^Messrs. John Treadwell, Asahel Wadsworth, Jonathan Root, Sam. Smith, 
Ichabod Norton, Noadiah Hooker, and Gad Stanley, be, and they are hereby 
appointed a Committee to keep up a Correspondence with the Towns of this and 
the neighboring Colonies, and that they forthwith transmit a copy of the votes of 
this Meeting to the Committee of Correspondence for the Town of Boston, and 
also cause the same to be made public. 



FARMINGTON. 181 

"Sept. 20, Tuesday, 1774, it was voted that the Selectmen be directed 
to purchase Tliirty Hundred weight of Lead to be added to the Town stock for 
the use of the Town. 

" At tlio same meeting, voted, that tlio Scloctmoii be directed to procure Ten 
Thousanil French Hints to bo added to tlio Town Stock for the use of the Town. 

" Voted, That the Selectmen bo Directed to purcliaso thirty six barrels of 
Powder, with what is already provided, to be added to the Town Stock for the 
use of the Town. 

"In I77.") special encouragement was given to John Trcadwell and Martin 
Bull, in the manufacture of Saltpetre. 

" Sept. 16, 1777, the first record is made of the administration of the Oath of 
Fidelity to the State of Connecticut, and the oath provided for freemen to a lai^o 
number of persons. 

" A similar record is made Dec. 1, 1777, and others at subsequent dates, 

" The inhabitants of the town of Farmington in legal town meeting cunvened. 
To Isaac Lee, Jr., and John Troadwcll, Ksqs., Eeprcsentatives for said town in 
the Genend Assembly of this State : Gentlemen, having in pursuance of the rec- 
ommendation of the (lovernor of this State taken into serious consideration the 
articles of confederation and perpetual union proposed by the Honorable Con- 
gress of the United States to the consideration and approbation of said States, 
we are of tho opinion that there is much wisdom conspicuous in many of said 
articles wliicli in many respects are highly calculated to promote the welfare and 
emolument of tlie United States and promise the most extensive blessings to us 
and posterit)', it is therefore with the utmost jiain that we find there is discover- 
able in sonic of said articles which bear an unfavoral)le aspect to tho New 
England States, and this in particular, tho similarity of customs, manners, and 
sentiments of the nine Western States, and their opposition to the New England 
States in these respects, especially as the power of transacting the most important 
business is vested in nine States, gives us great apprehension that evil conse- 
quences may flow to the prejudice of the New England States — tlie method of 
appointing courts for the deciding controversies between two or more States which 
will, as the case may be, entirely exclude every person that may be nominated 
in the New England States ; the rule of stating the quota of men for tho Conti- 
nental Service in war and mode of apportioning of tiie public expense, wo are 
constrained to say arc in our opinion very exceptionable though we are unwilling 
to believe that they were designed for the prejudice of this and the other New 
England States ; you are therefore directed to use your influence in the General 
Assembly of this State by proper ways and means that the articles of confedera- 
tion may bo amended and altered in the several particulars above mentioned by 
Congress, if such emendations can be made without manifestly endangering the 
independence and liberties of the United States. The emoluments, however, 
of the United States are to govern you in all your deliberations upon this 
interesting and important subject. 

"Voted, That the other articles of confederation are approved with the 
exceptions above taken in these instructions. 

"Test. Sol. ■\Vliilman, 
"April, 1778. Totrn Clerk." 

Foremost among those who acted and spoke at all these meetings 
was Colonel Fisher Gav ' (the son of John Gav, Jr., who was born in 
Dedham, Mass., 1098), born in Litehfield, Oct. 9, 1733, and grad- 
uated at Yale College, 17o9. lie began his life at Farmington as a 
school-teacher, but after two or three years he started a small mer- 

• Tho rcgiinent which he commanded belonged to Wadsworth's Brigndo, and niimborcd 
four hundred nud forty-oiue on the roll. Sea Henry P. Johnston's " Campaign of 1776, etc." 
Brooklyn, 1878. 



182 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

cantile business, which by his enei'g^y and skill became very consider- 
able. He soon became prominent in public affairs. He was appointed 
one of the committee of correspondence from the town in 1774, and 
was a member of the other important committees, as of vigilance, 
preparation, etc. On hearing of the conflicts at Concord and Lexing- 
ton he shut up his store at once and marched to Boston at the 
head of about a hundred volunteers. His commission as lieutenant- 
colonel is dated Jan. 23, 1776. His last commission as colonel bears 
date June 20, 1776. The brief journal which he kept of his services 
before Boston is preserved. From this it a])pears that he reported to 
General Washington February 6, and on the loth was sent for by him 
and immediately despatched into Rhode Island and Connecticut to pur- 
chase powder. On the 18th he reported himself Avith a number of tons, 
"to the great satisfaction of the General," but was severely ill from 
over-exertion. The 4th of March he was ordered with his regiment to 
act as a part of a covering i)arty to the workmen who were detached 
to fortify Dorchester Heights. The success of this attempt led to the 
evacuation of Boston, and Colonel Gay, with his regiment, with Colonel 
Leonard, Majors Sproat and Chester, and other officers and their troops, 
were ordered to march in and take possession of the town. Here he 
continued within, or Ijefore tlie works, mitil the army before Boston broke 
up, when his regiment was ordered to New York. On his way he spent 
two or three days with his family for the last time, being at that 
time very ill. He grew worse after reaching New York. A part of 
his command was sent to Long Island, and were in the action which 
followed the i-etreat, in which last movement they were distinguished. 
He died Aug. 22, 1776, and was Ijuried on the day of the battle. His 
zeal and self-sacrifice were conspicuous. On his sword, which is still 
preserved, are engraved the words, " Freedom or Death ! " Alike 
ardent in counsel and foremost in every good work in this community, 
whether it concerned the school, the church, or the state, he cheerfully 
risked his life for the rights of New England and the independence 
of the United Colonies. Nor was he alone. Three companies from 
Farmington were in action against Burgoyne, and it is confidently 
asserted by one whose recollections cannot be mistaken, that every 
young man from the town, worth any consideration, was at some time 
or other in the field. 

The village street was a part of the high road from Boston through 
Hartford to New York. Washington came by this route to meet 
Rochambeau at Wethersfield to arrange for the final expedition against 
Yorktown. Several thousand of the French troops were encamped for 
a night at least, about a mile below this place, and their arrangements 
for a bivouac are still to be seen. Tradition says that the Pui-itan 
misses did not disdain a dance by moonlight w"ith the French officers. 
Some of Burgoyne's officers were quartered here after the surrender, 
and the town is indebted to the skill of one of their number for two of 
its best houses. Several dwellings were patterned in different parts of 
the State after one of these houses. A part of the artillery taken at 
that memorable surrender was kept for a long time in the village. 

Till near the end of the war the town was conspicuously an agri- 
cultural community. The life and manners of the people were faithfully 



FAHMIMOTON. 183 

depicted by an lionesf chronirler in tlie following sketch prepared by 
the lion. Joiin Trcadwell in 1802 : — 

" Tliis town, as its narao imports, wns at first, and indeed till a late period, 
wholly agricultural. Labor in the field was almost the only employment. In- 
dustry and economy have characterized the inliabitants ; labor lias been held in 
reputiition ; none, however elevated by office or piofcssion, have considered 
themsolves above it. Magistrates and ministers, wlien their appropriate business 
would permit, have labored in the field. Indecil our magistrates have always 
been larniers ; liave been as laborious on their forms as others, and have derived 
their support from labor as mucii, almost, as the meanest citizen. They have 
been content to eat their bread in the sweat of their Ijrow ; and it was honor 
enough to be estofined the (iast among eijuals. Kut very little of the labor on 
farms has been performed by slaves; and if a farmer had a slave, he constantly 
laljoi-ed with him, and tiught him tlie habits of industry by hi.s own example as 
well as by his authority. Labor having been tlius reputable among all classes of 
citizens, industry has been almost universal ; and very few through idleness have 
become chargciible to the public. The master of the household has gone before 
his sons and domestics into the field in their daily labor, and if too remote, as 
usually happeneil, to return at noon, they dined together on their plain fare, 
under the covert of some thick shade, where on the green grass they might enjoy 
the lu.xury of the free air, with moi-e sincere delight than the greatest modern 
epicure at a civic feast. While the men have been thus emploj'ed in the lield, in 
raising the materials for food and clothing, the women have been no less indus- 
trious in the domestic circle, in rearing tlie tender branches of the ftimily, and in 
dressing food for the table. The careful matron has been accustomed to ' seek 
wool and flax and work willingly with her hands ; she layeth her hands to the 
spindle and her hands hold the distaff.' On Monday they have been employed 
in perfect dishabille, in washing their linen in theirhouses, and when this is done, 
at about the middle of the afternoon, tiiey a.ssumo tlieir neatest appearance, and 
are the perfect contrast of wliat they were in the morning, prepared to visit or to 
receive company. The bmtbers of the family returning from their daily labors, 
toward evening, covered with sweat and dust, and finding their sisters neatly 
dressed, and enjoying the cool shade, are led sometimes almost to repine at their 
happy lot ; but these feelings are corrected when they reflect that their sisters are 
employed more hours in the day, and that their labor when comi)ared with their 
strength is, many times, more severe than their own. It is true, however, that 
the young daughters, wiio have much to ex])ect from tlieir appearance, find 
means to shift off no small ])ri:>portion of the drudgery of the family on the fond 
mother; who submits the more readily, because she feels tliat there are reasons 
for it, that have their weight ; that she herself in youth has had the same 
indulgence, and that they must submit to the like service in their turn. 

" Our ancestors here, of both sexes, have, till of late, clad themselves in simple 
apparel, suited to their moderate circumstances and agricultural state. The men 
have been content with two suits of clothes, avUod the every-day clothes and the 
Sabbath-day clothes. The former were usually of two sorts, those for labor 
and those for common society. Those for labor in the summer were a check 
homespun linen shirt, a pair of plain tow-doth trousers, and a vest generally 
much worn, formerly with, but more moilernly without sleeves ; or simply a 
brown tow-cloth frock and trousers, and sometimes a pair of old shoes tied with 
leather strings, and a felt hat, or old beaver hat stiffened and worn white with 
age. For thi- winter season they wore a check blue anil white woollen siiirt, a 
pair of buck-skin breeches, a pair of white, or, if of the best kind, deep blue home- 
niado woollen stockings, and a pair of double-soled cowhide shoes, blackeil on 
the flesh side, tied with leatlier strings ; and, to .secure the feet and legs agjiin.st 
snow, a pair of leggins, which, for the most ]>art, were a ]>air of worn-out .stock- 
ings, with the bottom and toe of the foot cut off, drawn over the stocking and 



184 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

shoe, and tied fast to the heel and over the vamp of the shoe ; or if of the best 
kind, they were knit on purpose of wliite yarn, and they answered for boots on 
all occasions ; an old plain cloth vest with sleeves, lined with a cloth called drug- 
get ; an old plain cloth great-coat, commonly brown, wrapped around tlie body, 
and tied with a list or belt; or as a substitute for them, a buck-skin leather waist- 
coat and a leather apron of tanned sheep-skin fastened round the waist, and the 
top of it supported with a loop about the neck, and a hat as above, or a woollen 
cap drawn over the ears. 

" For ordinary society in summer they were clad in a check linen homespun 
shirt and trousers, or linen breeches, white homespun linen stockings, and 
cowhide single-soled shoes, a vest with sleeves usually of brown plain cloth, a 
handkerchief around tlie neck, a check cap, and a hat in part worn. 

" In winter they were clad us above described iov winter, excepting that they 
assumed, if they had it, a better great-coat, a neckcloth, and a hat that might be 
considered as second best. Their Sabbath-day suit for winter was like that last 
mentioned, excepting that their stockings were commonly deep blue, their leather 
breeches were clean and of a buff color, they ad<led a straight-bodied plain coat 
and a white holland cap, and sometimes a wig with a clean beaver hat. For the 
summer, it was a check holland shirt, brown linen breeches and stockings, single- 
soled cowhide shoes with buckles, a plain cloth and sometimes a broadcloth and 
velvet vest, without sleeves ; the shirt-sleeves tied above tlie elbows with arm- 
strings of ferreting of various colors, a white holland cap or wig, and beaver hat ; 
and on Thanksgiving days and other high occasions a white holland shirt and 
cambric neckcloth. 

" The women have been, till within about thirty years past, clothed altogether 
in the same style, with a moderate allowance for the taste of the sex. A minute 
description will not be attempted ; a few particulars will characterize the whole. 
They wore home-made drugget, crape, plain cloth, and camblet gowns in the 
winter, and the exterior of their under dress was a garment lined and quilted, 
exten<ling from the waist to the feet. Their shoes were high-heeled, made of 
tanned calf-skin, and in some instances of cloth. In the summer they wore striped 
linen and calico gowns, cloth shoes, and linen underdress ; and every young lady 
when she had attained her stature was furnished with a silk gown and skirt if her 
parents were able, or she could purchase them by dint of labor. Their head- 
dress has always occupied a great share of their attention while in youth ; it has 
always been varying, and every mole seems, in its day, the most becoming. 
Within the period just mentioned, tlie elderly women have worn check holland 
aprons to meeting on the Sabbath, and those in early life and of the best fashion 
were accustomed to wear tliem in their formal visits. 

" The same simplicity has been conspicuous in their diet, their houses, and 
their furniture. Equipage they liad none ; pleasure carriages and sleighs were 
unknown. In attending the public worship, or in short excursions, a man usually 
rode witli a woman behind him, mounted on a pillion; and'even to this day this 
practice is not wholly laid aside. 

" The people of this town, as farmers, have liad some advantages above most 
of their neighbors, but they liave had their disadvantages ; among which, their 
compact settlement is one. Two things induced this mode of settlement : fear of 
Indians, and a wish to place themselves in a situation convenient to improve the 
meadows. The inhabitants have their home-lots in the town plot ; their lots, 
as usually happens, in various parts of the meadows, distant from a quarter of a 
mile to nearly three miles ; and their pastures for their cattle and horses in perhaps 
an opposite direction, and as fixr or farther distant. In tliis situation, the time 
spent in taking the cows to pasture, and fetching their teams in the morning, and 
going to their fields, in returning home, turning out their teams and fetching 
their cows at night, must be, in most cases, a considerable part of the day, which 
is worse than lost, and is more than saved by those who live on their farms in a 
central situation." 



FARMINGTON. 185 

Soon after tlic War of the Revolution, with the returning activities 
of peace this town became the seat of an extensive trade. The town 
which had guarded tiie frontier undauntedly for three fourths of a cen- 
tury in face of an ludian village and tiio daric forest of the Mohawks 
beyond, now began to conunaud the trade of the new towns which were 
springing up in every ])art ot tliat forest. From along the Litciifield 
turnpike on the west, — tiie turnpike which, as long as New York and 
its vicinity was held by the English, was tiie high road from Boston 
and Hartford to the Middle States, — down tiie valley of the Tun.xis 
from the northwest toward Pittslield and Albany, up the Farmington 
from the north and beyond the Great Plains from the soutii and south- 
east, there was gathered an active mcrcautile trade which was first set 
in motion bvJohn and (^hauncey l)eming, who were followed l)y the live 
sons of Elijah Cowles. ?eth, ElijaJi, Jonathan, Gad, and Martin, and the 
two sons of Solomon Cowles, Solomon and Zenas. Some of these mer- 
chants set up branch houses in the neighboring towns. Some, not con- 
tent with buying their goods at Hartford and New York, arranged to 
import them, and in their own vessels. The signs on the numerous stores 
bore the inscriptions of " West India and East India goods," and in 
some instances these goods came directly to the hands i)i tiie Farming- 
ton merchants. At one time not less than tiiree AVest India vessels 
were owned in Farmington, whicli were desjiatehed from Wetliersfield or 
New Haven. One at least was sent to China, and brought from the tlien 
far-distant Cathay, silks and teas, and china-ware bearing the initials 
of these eiiter]trising imiiorters. The Indian corn which was raised 
so abundantly in tlie meadows and on the uplands was extensively kiln- 
dried and sent to the West Indies, and with the horses and the staves 
which the then new near West could so abundantly furnish, was the 
chief export, which brought back sugar, molasses, and Santa Cruz 
rum. At a somewhat later period an active trade in tin-ware and 
dry-goods was pushed into the Atlantic Southern States, and employed 
the energies and excited the aml)ition of many of the young men 
of the village and the town. Large fortunes were occasionally the 
results of these ventures. Not infrequently the young man who went 
forth in the maturity of strength and the conlidence of hope never 
returned. 

The old meeting-house began to rustle with silks and to be gay with 
ribbons. The lawyers wore silk and velvet breeches ; broadcloth took 
the jdace of homespun for coat and overcoat, and corduroy displaced 
leatiicr for breeches and jiantaloons. As the next century opened, 
pianos were heard in the best iiouses, thundering out the '• Battle of 
Prague " as a tour deforce, and the gayest of gigs and the most jiretcn- 
tious of ])liaetons rolled through the village. Houses were built with 
dancing-halls for evening gayety ; and the most liberal hosjiitality, 
recommended by the best of cookery, was dispensed at sumptuous 
dinners and suppers. 

This period of active business and mercantile enterprise and tlie rapid 
accumulation of wealth extended from 1790 until about 1825. In 1802 
Governor Treadwell records that '-a greater capital is eniployed in 
[trade] than in any inland town in the State." Jlr. Chauncey Deming 
was first among these merchants for strength and positiveness of char- 
acter and for business ability. He was foremost in enterprise, and was 



186 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

an active and influential director in one of the banks of both Hartford 
and Middletown. During the War of 1812, all the banks of the State 
except the Hartford Bank suspended payments in specie, and it is con- 
fidently asserted that Mr. Deming held large specie reserves in Farm- 
ingtou, which he produced from time to time to save its credit. No 
one who ever saw him in his vigorous old age as he galloped along the 
street upon his strong and elegant horse, or as he sat in church, with 
his powdered queue and his bright blue coat and gilt buttons, will 
forget the impression. 

The decline of this trade began with the opening of a more ready 
communication with Hartford, by the extension of the Litchfield and 
the Albany turnpike roads over the Talcott Mountain. The Farm- 
ington capitalists were large owners in the stock of both these roads. 
They did not foresee that by making it easier for themselves to go 
to Hartford they would make it easier for their customers to do the 
same. 

The military spirit of the town was fostered by its wealth and enter- 
prise. Upon the meeting-house green on the first Mondays of May and 
September, and some one or two other days in the autumn, there were 
gathered the three military companies of the town, — the Grenadiers, 
select and self-respecting, glorying in the buff and blue of the Revolu- 
tion, with a helmet of more recent device but of Roman model ; the 
Infantry, or bushwhackers, numerous, miscellaneous, and frolicsome, 
whose straggling line and undisciplined and undisciplinable platoons 
were the derision of the boys and the shame of all military men ; and 
a small but select company of cavalry, or " troopers," as they were 
called in contrast with the " trainers." These last consisted of " the 
horse-taming " young men of the community, more commonly sons 
of farmers in the remoter districts, who delighted in the opportunity 
to show their horsemanship, and thus vie with the aristocratic grena- 
diers, who were more largely from the village. In the autumn also 
was the annual " field day " for the regiment, which was summoned 
to meet once a year on one of the immense rye-fallows that stretched 
out upon the Great Plains. To these military organizations the 
meeting-house was in some sense the centre. The minister was sum- 
moned yearly to offer prayer upon the Green amid the assembled three 
companies, and invited to dine with the officers and those aspiring 
privates who chose to indulge in the expense of a dinner for a trifling 
sum. Should it rain beyond endurance on training-day, the meet- 
ing-house was opened to protect the soldiers from a drenching. Its 
sacred walls have many a time reverberated to drum and fife and 
the tramp of files along the aisles, while excited boys looked down 
from the gallery with wonder at so strange a spectacle, breathless 
with misgiving at the disturbance of their wonted associations with 
the place. 

Around the meeting-house were gathered representatives of all the 
population on the three or four days of election week in the spring, and 
the two days after the annual Thanksgiving in the autumn. The elec- 
tion days were usually devoted to ball-playing, in which adults partici- 
pated with the zest of boys, and delighted to show that tlieir youthful 
energy was not extinct, and that the tales of their youthful achievements 



FARMINGTON. 187 

were not mythical exaggerations. Wrestling matches, throwing of 
quoits, and otiier feats were by-plays to the principal performances. 

Between 1783 and 1802 one hnndred and forty-seven families emi- 
grated from Farmiiigton, besides a number of unmarried persons of 
both se.ves, in all about seven hundred and seventy-five individuals. 
The most of them settled in the States of Vermont and New York ; 
" a few in different parts of the Northwestern Territory." Since that 
time there has been a constant stream of emigration in every direction, 
into almost every State of the Union. 

In 1802 there had but three of the inhabitants been convicted of 
high crimes: one was executed for murder thirty-live years before; 
two were sent to Xcwgate Prison for a numljer of years ; they were all 
Indians. There were in 1802 fifteen paupers supported by the town, 
at an expense of i8'718. In that year there were thirty free blacks in 
the town. The number of dwelling-houses was four hundred and 
thirty-eight. (The town then included the present town of Avon.) 

In 1775 the IIdu. John Trcadwell and Martin Bull engaged in the 
manufacture of saltpetre, a material then needed in the preparation 
of gimpowder. They prosecuted the business with success till the 
French espoused the cause of the United States, when the demand for 
the article ceased. 

In 1802 and 180-3 there were manufactures in the town of Farming- 
ton of the following articles : checked and striped linen, 15,000 yards per 
year ; hats, 2,500 per year ; leather in four establishments, 1,500 sides, 
500 skins ; tin-ware in five shops, 200 boxes tin plate per year ; potash, 
three establishments, 15 tons ; muskets, 400 stands. 

Stephen Bronson manufactured the linen with enterprise and suc- 
cess, em])loying foreigners to assist in weaving and dyeing. Tiic yarn 
was spun in private families. 

Asa Andrus carried the art of preparing japanned ware to a high 
degree of perfection, and realized from his efforts consideral)le profit. 

These were the days of prosperity and pride for this always l)eautiful 
village.! For reasons already given, its active trade was gradually 
diminished. Some unsuccessful efforts were made to introduce manu- 
factures here and to invest in manufacturing enterprises abroad, but 
with little success. The fortunes that had been accumulated ur.dcr 
more favorable circumstances have been greatly diminished, until agri- 
culture has seemed to be the chief reliance for the inhabitants. Many 
of the hamlets and villages that formerly were the depemlencies of the 
mother town have rapidly increaseil in wealth and poi)ulation by the 
manufacturing industries to which they were comiielled by necessity, 
while the decaying si)lendor and wealthy respectability of the formerly 
brilliant village has occasioned their wonder and criticism. The canal, 
from which something was expected, proved little more than a costly 
and troublesome convenience, and the railway was unfortunately al- 
lowed to leave the village far enough in the distance to suggest 
thoughts of what it might have been had it passed near its centre, 

' The social aspects of the village, as they weiv some fifty or seventy years since, are 
graphically depicted by the late E. D. Mansfield, of Cincinnati, Ohio, in " Personal Memoirs 
at Cincinnati," 1879, pp. 79-84. Mr. Mansfield became a student of Mr. Edward Hooker, of 
the Reil College, in 1816. 



188 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

while it stimulated what were formerly two school districts into the 
rapidly a;rowing communities of Plainville and Unionville. 

While these villages have shot up into vigorous life, a few abortive 
attempts to introduce clock-making and other industries into the cen- 
tral village were made and relinquished. The gambrel-roofed buildings 
that once were the scenes of busy traffic on the village street have one 
by one, with two or three exceptions, been removed into the back 
streets, and become solid and comfortable dwellings; and the village 
itself is left to be the pleasant retreat of the remnants of its older and 
once numerous families, or tlie lovely sojourn for the gay inmates of 
the school, which almost calls the town its own. Meanwhile some 
stimulus has been given to its agricultural industry, and the soil, and 
its nearness to markets, destine it to become sooner or later a thriving 
agricultural community, and a lovely retreat from the battle and strife 
of manufacturing and commercial towns. 

The Farmington Savings Bank was organized May, 1851, and has 
been very prosperous. The Farmington Creamery Company was 
established in 1870, and has stimulated and rewarded the agricultural 
enterprise of the community. In 1884 it received 1,201,000 quarts 
of milk. 

We resume our sketch of the moral and religious life of the old 
town, with the pastorate of Dr. Porter, who was ordained Nov. 5, 
1806, and died Sept. 24, 1866, after a pastorate of nearly sixty 
years. During this period the town passed through some of the most 
eventful experiences of its history. He was in every sense closely 
identified with the intellectual, ethical, and religious history of the 
town. His ancestor was one of the original proprietors, and also one 
of the original members of its carefully selected church ; his father 
was deacon of the same. He was fitted for college in the family of 
Mr. Washburn. He had scarcely known any other home than Farming- 
ton except during his college life. His cliurch and parish embraced 
the entire population, and with the exception of six or eight families, 
it was Congregational. Far and near, in lonely hamlets, and beyond 
rough and rocky paths, he was the one pastor for all tlicse households, 
whatever were their needs or longings for human or Christian sym- 
pathy. His Sunday congregation, for many years, was from six hun- 
dred to nine hundred souls. During the first third of his pastorate he 
was zealous for Orthodoxy, having inherited the New England sturdy 
confidence in a fixed formula of doctrine as the only faith once deliv- 
ered to the saints, which he did not fail to proclaim in its sterner as 
well as its milder features. In the last two thirds of his ministry his 
enlarged views of the spiritual adaptation of the gospel to the soul of 
man imparted a new interest to his preaching and his conceptions 
of the gospel. He welcomed new thoughts, and had them to the very 
end of his life. He was not afraid of any new light which might break 
forth from the Scriptures, because he was so saturated with its great 
truths and its prevailing spirit that he had no misgivings that the truth 
would ever fail. It was characteristic of this spirit that at eighty- 
six some of his latest reading was devoted to " Ecce Homo;" and his 
Greek Testament was found open on his study table at his death. 
In his meridian activity, and even after the beginning of old age, 



FARMINGTON. 189 

his regular weekly mectintxs were as follows : Throe services on Sun- 
day, involving two written discourses, and a familiar lecture or exposi- 
tion in the evening, with an occasional attendance at the Sunday school, 
a weekly lecture on Wednesday evening, and another, in some outlying 
school-house, on Thursday afternoon or evening. For all these services 
more or less definite ])reparation was made. 

As an ethical teacher and guide he was bold and fearless and 
outspoken. In the early part of his ministry intem])erance was a prevail- 
ing vice, and social drinking was universal, and even countenanced by 
the ministry. There were not a few of the greater and lesser immoral- 
ities nsiainst whieli he was expected to ]irotest, and he did protest most 
earncstlv. Some of these were especially prominent in tlic wealthy 
and gay community which at that time swarmed in the streets and 
houses of Farmington. In the early part of his pastorate an associa- 
tion was formed in the State for the promotion of Christian morals, 
before which, early in his ministry. Dr. Porter preaclied one of the 
annual sermons. He had Ijcen nearly twenty years in the pastorate 
before the first temperance movement commenced. Twenty years 
before this time a hogshead of rum had been sold at retail in a single 
day in the village, and eight or ten retail shops had been actively sus- 
tained by respectable traders. Most of the farmers depended for ready 
money on the sale of cider at the many numerous small distilleries. 
The evil was so serious that Dr. Porter, in connection with most of 
the Congregational pastors of Connecticut, acted with promptness 
and energy in furtherance of the first Temperance Reformation. He 
subsefjuently gave his coniial adiiesion to the movement to abstain 
from all intoxicating drinks, and was far in advance of his people in 
both these enterprises. Tlien came the Antislavery excitement, which 
very sharply divided the pastors of the State. Dr. Porter did not 
hesitate from the first to denounce slavery as a system, and to dwell, in 
bis sermons and other discourses, on the evils which must inevitably 
attend it ; l)ut he did not accept the abstract theories a<lopted by the 
originators of the movement, nor did he sympathize with their indis- 
criminating denunciations, and for these reasons did not join himself 
to their association. It so hajipened that his parish became one of the 
minor, but very active, centres for Antislavei-y ])ropagandism. Some 
of tiie prominent men in the church were zealous propagandists of the 
extremest doctrines. Not a little money was contributed to the cause. 
Frequent conventions were held, at which " laggard churches " and 
" temporizing ministers" were unceremoniously rebuked. An earnest 
and persistent effort was made to bring into use very extreme doc- 
trines as tests of Christian fellowship, and to bring all the churches 
to utter protests, by resolution and by other methods, to debar 
from the communion of the Lord's Supper those who could not 
purge themselves from all comi)licity with slavery. A majority of 
votes was obtained in Dr. Porter's own church for a series of resolu- 
tions of this description, and tiie pastor was requested to announce 
them at every communion service. These proceedings were oft'ensive 
to his conscirnoe. He regarded these votes as doing violence to the 
teachings of the New Testament and to the very spirit of Cbri.stianity. 
With great boldness, but with still greater patience and gentleness, he 
reasoned and expostulated, but failed to convince. Perliaps no phase 



190 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

of his life as a pastor was more fruitful in Christian instructiveness 
than the manly dignity and patient sweetness which he manifested 
din-ing these trying years in which old age was beginning to gather 
around him, and its sombre darkness was made more gloomy by a wild 
storm lilie this. The storm passed away ; the last of its lingering 
clouds vanished into air, and long before his death the entire church and 
parish rejoiced in the mild and benignant rays of the sun which had 
blessed them so long, and shone out again before its final setting. 

In respect to revivals of religion, the pastorate of Dr. Porter was 
somewhat peculiar. For the first fifteen years there was no great 
awalvcning to religious things. Of a population of 2,400, only 200 were 
communicants, and of these vei-y few belonged to the gay and wealthy 
families of the village. In 1821, in connection with a general awaken- 
ing in the State, and with the preaching of Dr. Nettleton the evangelist, 
some 240 were added to the church. Such special movements occurred 
very frequently after this until the pastor's death, as in 1823, 1826, 
1828, 1831, 1834, 1838, 1840, 1843, 1851, and not infrequently after- 
ward. In the first fifty years of this pastorate 1,138 were received as 
communicants, 866 on profession of faith. 

Dr. Porter's relations to the public deserve some notice. Though 
he seemed to be chiefly occupied with his own flock, and more than 
usually engrossed by its duties and cares, he was eminently a public 
soul. He cared earnestly and zealously for the whole Church of 
Christ. 

^lost of the movements of modern benevolence originated during 
his pastorate. For many years the only collections taken up in the 
church were those authorized by law, for the help of feeble congre- 
gations in Connecticut, and that of a Female Cent Society, each sub- 
scriber to which made an annual collection of fifty cents, and an annual 
contribution for the churches in the New Settlements. Every other 
contribution for the progress of the kingdom of God came into being 
under his eye. Almost every one was greeted by his sympathy. He 
gave liberally himself to these associations after a fixed method, and 
he solemnly impressed upon his people the duty of abundant gifts. 
He cared for every one of these societies which had won liis confi- 
dence, as though it were under his personal care, and recognized a 
response to its claims as part of his duty as pastor. With the mission- 
ary enterprises of the American Board, which was organized at his 
house, and of the American Home Missionary Society, he maintained 
the closest sympathy, and by his influence large sums of money were 
directed to their treasuries. In the establisliment of the Doctrinal 
Tract Society, of the " Montiily Christian Spectator," and of the " Con- 
necticut Observer," in the founding of the Theological Seminary at 
New Haven, in the raising of money for Yale College, he was most 
efficient, and considered that all these services to the Church of Christ 
were but the natural and necessary outflows of his oiUce as a pastor. 

His increased catholicity of feeling in I'espect to differences in doc- 
trine and rite and organization was manifest in his later years. The 
sturdy pertinacity with which he stood almost alone among his peers 
in defending the rights of his association to judge of the orthodoxy of 
Dr. Bushnell, and the catholic construction witii which he was disposed 
to measure and interpret his doctrinal expositions, were evidences of 



FARMINGTON. 191 

his sincere concern for the freedom of the niinistrj' as essential to the 
life of the church, and of the duty of the niinistrj' to enforce no 
divisive t(!sts of coninuiuion. 

His end was oniiueutly ]ieaccful. His remains were providentially 
detained from burial, by a severe storm, in the old church in which he 
had preached for sixty years, where during a dark and dismal night 
they were watched by a few faithful men of his flock. Ou the follow- 
ing morning the sun came forth and he was laid in the grave, near the 
river that waters the meadow over which he had so often feasted his 
eyes with so much delight, and over against the hills beyond which be 
had so long looked for the city of God. 

Oct. 9, 1861, the Rev. Levi Leonard Paine was ordained and installed 
colleague pastor. He was dismissed March 22, 1870. Tlw. Rev. James 
Fiske Merriam was ordained and installed Sept. 13, 1871. He was 
dismissed July 1, 1873. The Rev. Edward Alfred Smith was installed 
May 5, 187-1. 

In 1810 Mr. Solomon Langdon gave two thousand dollars to the 
Ecclesiastical Society as a fund for the support of the gospel. In 1820 
lie gave in addition live hundred dollars, on condition that the society 
would increase the amount to ten thousand dollars, which was accom- 
pli.shcd. In March, 1823, he made another subscription of three hun- 
dred dollars, to increase the fund to twelve thousand dollars. In his 
will, after certain bequests, he left to the society the residue of his 
estate, amounting to some thousands of dollars. These bequests were 
the fruits of his own industry. He died May 10, 1835. 

In 1825 a Methodist Episcopal church was organized, which in 1834 
erected a house of worship. An Ei)iscopal Mission (St. James) has 
held stated worship since Oct. 5, 1873. 

For nearly forty years Roman Catholic worship has been observed 
in the village. In JIarch, 1868, the edifice which is now occupied was 
purchased, and subsequently fitted for Christian worship. 

The moral and religious history of the original parish church and 
the community in which it has been the central force may be summed 
uj) as follows: From 1640 to 1700 it was trained under the teachings 
and animated by the fervor of Roger Newton and Samuel Hooker, — the 
first the son-in-law, the second the son, of the eminent Thomas Hooker. 
The ministry of the latter continued for nearly forty years, and was 
elevating and quickening in an eminent degree, making itself felt on 
all the extensive town, and all the infant parishes into which it was then 
and subse(iuently divided. From 170<') till 1751 it was favored by the 
solid and sagacious Whitman, who administered tlie so-called Halfway 
Covenant, if we may judge from the records of the church, in an energetic 
spirit, and saved the community from the disastrous divisions and contro- 
versies which followed the Great Awakening. He was followed by the 
fervent and florid Pitkin, who sympathized with Whitefield, invited him 
to preach in his pulpit, and long after his dismissal, till his death, in 
1811, was a living example of a godly life. His ministiw was quicken- 
ing to many ; although it is evident, from many indications, that in con- 
nection with the demoralization of the wars for nearly forty years and 
the attraction of French Infidelity, and the steady accession of wealth, 
many influences were unfavorable to earnest Christianity. From 1790 



192 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

to 1800 there were many active efforts for the revival of spiritual 
religion, in which Mr. Olcott probably sympathized, and which partially 
accounted for the opposition which finally drove him away. The same 
antipathies were aroused by the fervid and pointed preaching of the 
fervent Griffin (then in his youth and afterward so distinguished as a 
preacher), which excited the hostility of a large party in the parish. 
The gentle influence of Mr. Washburn doubtless preserved the parish 
from division and from sectarian strife. During his ministry, as has 
been noted elsewhere, there were two remarkable religious aAvakenings. 
During the first fifteen years of Dr. Porter there was no general relig- 
ious revival. The village grew gay and wealthy, and the embargo and 
the war occupied the attention of the community. Two years of fatal 
disease also agitated and occupied the people. In the mean time the new 
missionary movements, at home and abroad, with the Sunday school 
(1819), were introduced with reasonable energy. The American Board 
of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was organized at the house of 
the pastor in 1810, with Governor Treadwell as its president. In 1820 
there was a general religious awakening, -which almost revolutionized 
the once gay and pleasure-loving village, and added two hundred or 
more to the communion of the church, — one hundred and fifteen on 
one occasion. This was followed by many similar experiences at very 
frequent intervals. In connection with these influences, the various 
movements for moral reformation excited the attention of the com- 
munity, kindled their zeal, were most liberally supported by their 
money, and occasionally aroused the animosities of hostile parties. 
The temperance movement, beginning about 1825, finally succeeded in 
putting an end to the use of distilled liquors and cider as a beverage, 
and the destruction of as many as fifteen or twenty distilleries of 
cider-brandy. The Antimasonic movement was also once a prominent 
interest in the town, — more against the recollections of previous 
generations, however, than any very present interest in Masonry as 
an active power. The Antislavery movement in its very early stages 
excited no little interest, and divided the church and community into 
what in any other place would have been called active parties.^ This 
was owing in pai't to the very early interest taken in the movement by 
the Rev. Amos A. Phelps, a native of the town, and a brilliant and 
able speaker. The differences of opinion, with the criminations and 
recriminations, were not all of the happiest influence. Much that was 
said and done, if it were recorded, would be a history of wasted energy 
which tended to little good either at liome or abroad. That tlie church 
and parish survived all storms of feeling, and never was sundered or 
half-cloven by permanent parties, is an argument for ^\•onder and 
thankfulness. 

Indeed, the unity of the old church and parish for nearly two hundred 
and fifty years past, which is scarcely now broken by sectarian divisions, 
with their manifold inconveniences and scandals, is a marked feature of 
its almost unique moral and religious history. 

1 The fact is woi-thy of record here that a sermon was preached iu the meeting-liouse to 
"the Corporation of Freemen," in Farniington, at their meeting on Tuesda}', Sept. 20, 1774, 
by Levi Hart, of Preston, in which tlie slave trade, as it tlieu was jiractised iu Connecticut, 
was boldly assailed, and slaveholding was severely criticised. This Levi Hart was doubtless a 
descendant of the original settler, Deacon Steven Hart. 



FARMINGTON. 103 

The interest of the town in general and special education may not 
be omitted. We iiuve already referred to the early action of the town. 
In 1772 the parish was divided into separate school districts, and a 
petition was presented to the legislature to authorize each to ta.\ itself 
to manage its own concerns. It was not till 1795 that the legislature 
constituted special scliool societies throughout the State. In the year 
following, tliis newly formed school society digested a system of regu- 
lations for the visitation and discipline of the schools. In 1798 a bill 
with similar provisions was reported ljy John Treadwell, of this town, 
afterward Governor, and adopted for the entire State of Connecticut. 
The town deserves especial honor as the place in which the school 
system of Connecticut was first matured and adopted. 

The town of Farmington provided very early and very liberally for 
a special town fund for the support of public schools in all its societies, 
by the sale of lauds reserved for highways. In the old meeting-house 
were held the annual school exhibitions, in whicli the highest classes 
from all the schools, each in turn, apjieared on the stage to try its skill 
in reading, spelling, and defining before the assembled community. 
The late Professor Olmsted records his remembrance of one of these 
exhibitions which must have taken place before 1809. In February, 
1793, it was voted that John Treadwell, John Mix, Timothy Pitkin, Jr., 
and Seth Lee be a committee to devise a plan for the formation of a 
new school in the society, to give instruction in some of tlic higher 
branches of science not usually taught in common schools, and report. 
There is no record that any re])ort was ever made. It is probable that 
the fierce ecclesiastical strife which had begun to agitate the community 
preoccupied the attention of the public. 

In the year 181G the academy building was erected by an associa- 
tion of gentlemen who contributed a thousand dollars, to wiiicli the 
society added .some six or seven hundred, thereby securing to itself the 
use of a convenient lectui'c-room, and to the community apartments for 
a iiigher sciiool. Such a .school was maintained with great success for 
some twenty years, and was of great service to this and other townis. 
To this movement may be directly traced all that has been subsequently 
done for sjjecial education in the village. 

Of this academy the most distinguished principal was Deacon 
Simeon Ilart, who not only devoted himself with singular painstaking 
and probity to the education of the youth committed to his care, but 
was in all iiis years of residence in tliis town a public-spirited citizen 
and an ardent servant of Christ and his church. 

Tlie Old Red College, as it was called, should not be forgotten, as 
its inmates at one time made themselves very conspicuous in the com- 
munity. It stood on tiie ground now occupied by the Female Seminary, 
and was originally the residence of Colonel Xoadiah Hooker. His pure 
and nuble-niinded sou, Edward Hooker, used it for lodgings for a num- 
ber of students from the Southern and Southwestern States, wiiom for 
several years he prepared for college and for public or professional life. 

In tlic palmy days of the village tliese well-dressed and showy young 
men, ten to fifteen in number, for several years made tliemselvcs con- 
spicuous at all times, and especially on Sundays, when with iron-.shod 
boot-heels they tramped to the highest pew in the gallery and made 
tliemselvcs the observed of all observers. 

VOL. II. — 13. 



194 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUXTY. 

In the year 1844 Miss Sarah Porter opened a school for a few girls 
and young ladies of the village, with two or three from other towns. Out 
of this beginning has grown the very flourishing school which still 
continues. 

Social or public libraries have been successfully sustained in the 
village and some of their oiitlying hamlets. One of these for a long 
time satisfied the literary wants of the north end of the village, but was 
subsequently absorbed into what was called the Phoenix Library, which 
has existed since early in the pi'esent century. There was also a Mechan- 
ics' Library in the village, and still another library on the Great Plain. 
One of these libraries, probably the oldest, originated in a horse-shed 
with a few boys, who organized a plan of joint ownership and exchange 
for the very few juvenile books which came within their reach. It be- 
came a very flourishing institution, and was for many years sustained 
by a large number of proprietors. They met for many years on the 
first Sunday evening of every month at the house of Deacon Elijah 
Porter. This library meeting was the village lyceum, at which its 
educated and professional men and the more intelligent citizens would 
freely compare their views in respect to the affairs of the village and 
the nation, to which thoughtful and curious boys listened with unno- 
ticed attention. After this free interchange of oijinion, which went on 
while the books were received which had been taken at the previous 
meeting, at the ajtpointcd hour the drawing began, which was now and 
then interrupted by an active bidding for any book which was especially 
desired. 

On tlio records of the Farmington Library Comjjany there appears 
on page la" Catalogue of the Library begun in 1785." On the 1st of 
January, 1801, without any apparent change in the organization, it 
began to be called the Monthly Library. From 1796 to 1813 Elijah 
Porter was the libi-arian. During the year 1813 the office was filled by 
Luther Seymour, after which the library was dissolved, and on the 12th 
of February, 1814, the Phojnix Library was formed by a selection of 
the more valuable books from the old library. Elijah Porter was again 
appointed librarian, and retained the office until March 17, 1826, when 
the Village Library, of which Captain Selah Porter had been librarian 
since January, 1817, was united with the Phoenix, and both remained 
under the care of Captain Porter until he resigned, April 4, 1835, and 
Simeon Hart, Jr., was appointed in his place. It appears by the record 
that " The Farmington Library Company was formed Feb. 18, 1839, 
designed to supersede the Phoenix Library Company, which proved 
defective in its organization and was accordingly dissolved." 

The old library still survives in the hands of a very few of the 
original proprietors. It is an instructive memorial of the past as well 
as a valuable collection of standard books. It is to be hoped that it 
may never be dispersed, but may become the property of the town. It 
would not be honorable to tiie town or the village at a time when so 
many towns in New England are collecting and supporting public libra- 
ries, if these books should be sold for a pittance, and its standard histo- 
ries and solid treatises should be distributed no one knows whither. 

Among the most distinguished men who have been resident in 
Farmington, two deserve especial notice ; namely, the Hon. John Tread- 
well and Dr. Eli Todd. Dr. Noah Porter writes" thus of Dr. Treadwell : 



FARMH^GTOX. 105 

"The Hon. John Treadwell wiis born in I'armington, Nov. 23, 1745. His 
parents, Ephvaiin and Mary TieadwcU, were highly respected fur their piety. 
Having finished iiis education at Yale College, where he was graduated in 1767, 
he pursued a thorough course of study in legal science, but sucli was his 
aversion to professional life, that he never offered liimself fur examination at the 
bar. In the autumn of 177G he was chosen a representative of the town to the 
General Assembly; and by successive elections from that time till 1785 he was 




c^^<^y-y^.^<ZJCi^ e/^ 



continually, with the exception of one session, a member of the house. He was 
then elected one of the Assistants, and to that olfice was annually chosen till 1 798, 
when he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor. In the autumn of 1809, on the 
decease of Governor Trumbull, he was chosen by the legislature to the office of 
Governor ; and by a renewal of the appointment at their session in May, he con- 
tinued in the ili.scharge of the high dnties of that office the following year. At 
this time he had been twenty yeai-s judge of the Court of Probate, three years 
judge of the County Court, twenty years a judge in the Supreme Court of Errors, 
and nineteen years a member of the corporation of Yale College. The greater 
part of this time he was also one of the prudential committee of that corpora- 
tion, and took a zealous part in whatever pertainetl to the prosperity of the semi- 
nary. Among other public services, it also deserves particular mention that he 
had an early agency in negotiating the sale of the New Connecticut lands, and 
in con.'stituting from the sale our school fund. Having, in connection with 
others, accomplished that laborious and difficult trust, ho was appointed one of 
the board of managers ; and in this office was continued till 1810, when, by a 
different arrangement, it was superseded. Ho drew the bill for the application 
of the fund, and is probably to Idc considered more directly than any other person 
the father of the system of common-school education in this State. In these 
various offices his reputation was unsullied. He was known to act uprightly, 
and was generally acknowledged to act judiciously. Probably no man was 
better acquainted with the internal policy of the State ; and having begun his 
fostering care over it when it was in the cradle of its independent existence, and 
been almost exclusively devoted to its concerns, in offices so various, and some 
of them so important, for thirty years, he contributed to its order and improve- 
ment in a degree which, in other periods and circumstances, would have been 
hardly possible for any man. In the church his labors were scarcely less impor- 
tant than in the State. In the church of Farmiugtou, of which he became a mem- 
ber in the twenty-seventh year of his life, his counsels and example alwavs, and 
mure especially in several trying periods of its history, were exceedingly valued. 
MoH! than twenty years he was a deacon of that church, and while adorned with 
the highest dignities of the State, he continued to perform the onlinary duties of 
that office. Of ecclesiastical councils lie was a frequent and useful member. 
Of the Missionary Society of Connecticut he was one of the original trustees ; 
of these trustees he was the first chairman ; and this station by successive ap- 
pointments he continued to lill till on account of advanced years he declined 
a reappointment. He was also one of the Commissioners who formed the Con- 
stitution of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and 
who devised the incipient measures for carrying into effect the important design 
of their commission. Of that Board he was the first President, and in that office 
he continued till his death. No magistrate of Now England probably, since the 
time of Haynes and Winthrop, engaged a greater mensure of confidence in the 



196 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

church, was more useful in it, or more venerated by its ministers. He was not 
a man of brilliant genius or extended erudition or conimandinij; elocution. He 
had no superior advantages of birth, of patronage, of jiersonal attractions, or 
courtlv address. He had no peculiar power of delighting the social circle with 
the sprigbtliness of his f;incy, nor of swaying public assemblies by the eloquence 
of bis appeals. He was not, in the common import of the term, a pojiular man ; 
yet he bad an intellectual and moral greatness which carried him superior to all 
obstacles in the path to eminence ; so that with no advantages above what thou- 
sands enjoyed, he united in himself, in a perfection rarely found, the characters of 
a jurist, a civilian, and a divine. In the ordinary scenes, as well as in the higher 
sphere of life, bis piety shone with steady lustre. His attendance upon divine 
ordinances was steady and exemplary. The retired circle for prayer and Chris- 
tian conference, as well as the solemn assembly, could command bis presence 
and engage his warm affections. Familiar as divine truth was to bis contempla- 
tions, he was always entertained and often melted under the plainest and most 
unadorned exhibitions of it. He could safely appeal to all who knew bim, that 
in simplicity and godly sincerity, not by fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, 
be had his conversation in the world. Witli serene hope in Christ, he died 
Aug. 18, 1823, in tlie seventy-eighth year of his age." 

Dr. Asahel Thomson says of Dr. Totid : — 

" Dr. Eli Todd, the son of Michael Todd, an enterprising merchant of New 
Haven, Conn., and Mrs. Mary Todd, a lady much and deservedly respected for 
her intelligence and piety, was born in that city in 1770. At an early age he 
entered Yale College, where he graduated in 1787. Subsequently, after spending 
some time in the West Indies, he pursued a course of medical study under the 
direction of Dr. Beardsley, an eminent physician of New Haven, and came to 
Farmington to enter upon the practice of medicine in September, 1790. He 
continued to reside in Farmington till October, 1819, when be removed to 
Hartford. On the establishment in that city of the Eetreat for the Insane, 
an object which he had long contemplated with bigb interest, and to which 
he contributed largely by bis influence and exertions, ho was selected, as if by 
general consent, to carry into effect the benevolent plan of its founders, as its 
physician and .superintendent. This situation be retained from the period of 
his appointment at its first organization, in 1824, till his deceas" in the autumn 
of 1833. 

" Dr. Todd was a man of rare mental endowments. He possessed in a high 
degree the various characteristics of superior genius. His intellect was strong 
and vigorous, capable of readily comprehending, mastering, and illustrating any 
subject to which his attention was directed; his judgment was profound, clear, 
and discriminating, his apprehension remarkably quick, his memory strongly 
retentive, liis imagination and fancy brilliant and ever awake, and his taste deli- 
cate and refined, the source of much enjoyment to himself and the means of 
much pleasure to others. His conversational powers were uncommon. Though 
unusually aS"able, and often inclined to sprigbtliness and gayety in bis intercourse 
with others, yet his mind was naturally of a highly philosophical and speculative 
turn. On other occasions, when the subject required or admitted of it, he would 
give utterance to his sentiments and feelings in a style vivid, bold, and figurative, 
abounding in striking imagery, interesting and picturesque description or narra- 
tive, and lively sallies of wit and humor. No one on such occasions could be 
long in his presence without being sensible of, or paying homage to, the vigor of 
his understanding and the brilliancy of his imagination. 

" But while bis rare intellectual powers inspired sentiments of respect and 
admiration, his moral and social qualities, the attributes of the heart, secured to 
him the strongest attachment. Many who were his patients or patrons can 



FARMINGTON. 197 

testify to his kind-hearted syiup;ithy in the sick-room, to the unwearied assiduity 
witli whicli ho watchcil at tho Ijedsido of tho sick, to his anxious solicitude to 
devise and adopt, as well as iiis ready ingenuity iu contriving, every possible 
measure for their relief, and to tho all'ectionalo language and manner with which 
he aimed to allay tiieir sense of distress, when it could not be at once removed. 
They can also bear testimony to his frequent outi)ourings of heartfelt delight on 
seeing them relieved and restored again to the enjoyment of health. 

" As a practitioner ho long and e.Ktensively enjoyed the confidence of the 
community in an enviable <legrce ; perhaps none of his contemporaries in the State 
attained a higher rank. IIo evinced uncommon sagacity in investigating tho 
causes, seats, and nature of diseases, and was usually remarkably accurate in his 
predictions of tho changes they would undergo, and of their terminations. In 
his intercoui-so with society', his manners and general deportment were unusually 
courteous and gentlemanly ; ho was over frank, open-hearted, and sincere, exhib- 
ited a high sense of honor, always despised what was mean and disingenuous, 
and was over attentive to all the decorums of time, place, and character. Though 
allable and condescending to individuals in all situations in life, and though ho 
aimed, and with almost uniform success, to avoid giving offence, yet ho was fear- 
less and inilependont iu expressing his sentiments and pursuing the lino of conduct 
ho choso to follow. 

" In physical conformation Dr. Todd was of medium size, well-made and 
muscular. In early life lie possessed great bodily strength and agility, and de- 
lighted in all those exercises which called them into action. Dr. Todd was twice 
married, but left no children. 

" No biographical notice of Dr. Todd should be concluded without some 
reference to his religious character. Though born of pious parents, yet till late 
in life tho liiblo and the Christian religion are believed to have occupied little 
of his attention, and he was generally reputed a sceptic. In 18^5 bis first 
wifo died in the triumphs of fiiith, and on her death-bed urged and entreated 
him to attend to and investigate the subject of religion, expressing her undoubt- 
ing conviction that if he would do so in the same thorough and impartial manner 
in which he examined other topics, the result would be most happy. In compli- 
ance with her dying request, he commenced the study of the Bible ; and by the 
blessing of God tlie effect proved as Mrs. Todd had anticipated. All tho doubts, 
difficulties, and prejudices which had so long stood in the way of his embracing 
tho Christian faith were dissipated ; and Dr. Todd became a firm believer in tho 
great doctrines of revelation, and a sincere and ardent disciple of Christ ; and 
through the remainder of bis life, and particularly during his last long and dis- 
tressing illness, enjoyed in a high degree tho peculiar supports and consolations 
of tho gospel." 

The following additional list of men distinnrnisliod in tho history of 
the town, including its parishes, has been gathered from its records 
and other sources : John Steele, Thomas Judd, Stephen Hart, Wil- 
liam Lewis, Anthony Ifowkins, John Hart, Dr. Daniel Porter, John 
Wadswortli, John Loc, Deacon Thomas Bull, Captain Thomas Hart, .John 
Hooker, Captain William Wadsworth, William .fudd. Colonel Fisiicr 
Gay, Colonel Xoadiali Hooker, Chaimcey D(Mniiig, Edward Hooker, 
Governor John Treadwell, the Hon. Timothy Pitkin (.M.C.), Lemuel 
Whitman (M.C.), Jared Griswold, Samuel Richards, John Mi.\, Horace 
Cowles, Solomon Cowles, and Zenas Cowles (brotiiers), Jonathan, 
Elijah, Seth, Gad, and Martin Cowles (brothers), James Cowles, John 
T. Norton, Asahcl Thomson, M.D., Simeon Hart, Samuel Hooker 
Cowles, EInathan Gridlcy, Joim Richards, D.D., the Rev. Amos A. 
Phelps, Professor John Pitkin Norton. 



198 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

For several j-ears after its settlement the town was dependent on 
Hartford for a physician. In 1652 the General Court authorized Dr. 
Thomas Lord to charge for a visit " to any house in Farmington, sis 
shillings." The resident physicians have been : — 

Samuel Porter, born Oct. 24, 1665 ; died March 25, 1736. Tliomas Thomson, 
born June 3, 1674 ; died July 17, 1748. Ebenezer Lee. Samuel Pdchards, born 
Oct. 22, 172G; died Nov. 10,' 1793. Thomas Mather, born Sept. 7, 1741 ; died 
Au"-. 10, 1766. Asa Johnson. Timothy Hosmer, born August, 1745. Theodore 
Wadswortli, born Oct. 5, 1752 ; died June 2, 1808. John Hart, born March 11, 
1753; died Oct. 3, 1798. Adna Stanley, born Jan. 28, 1763; died Dec. 30, 
1725. Eli Todd, born July 22, 1769 ; died Nov. 17, 1833. Harry Wadsworth, 
born May 23, 1780; died April 25, 1813. Asahel Yale. Asahel Thomson, 
born April 16, 1790 ; died May 2, 1866. Zephaniah Swift (practised from 1815 
to 1830). Cliauncey Brown, born March 14, 1802 ; died Aug. 9, 1879. Edwin 
Wells Carrington, born July 8, 1805 ; died Feb. 8, 1852. 

There are now practising in Farmington village Drs. Franklin 
Wheeler and Charles Carrington ; and in the village of Unionville, Drs. 
Everett A. Towne, W. W. Horton, E. C. King, and E. M. Ripley. 



cA/V^/v^ 



UNIONVLLLE. 199 



UNIONVILLE. 

BY JAMES L. COWLES. 

Long before the birth of tlie modern village of Unionville, the 
tiinibliiig waters of the river and of the brooks in the neighborhood 
liad been in a measure utilized by the settlers for their rude manii- 
tactures. On the left bank of the river, a short distance from the old 
Perry's Ijridge, and located on Zack's Brook, was Hammond's gun- 
factory, where firelocks were made for the soldiers of the Revolution 
and ot' the War of 1812. Some of the large grindstones there used 
were of red sandstone, and were quarried in Scott's Swamp. It was at 
Hammond's factory that Mr. Colton — one of the early superintendents 
of the Springfield Armory — -learned his trade. 

Twelve to fifteen tenements stood in the neighborhood, to give 
shelter to the operatives ; but with the peaceful era that followed the 
War of 1812 the demand for weapons of war diminished, and before 
1832 the business was entirely abandoned. Some of the old tenements, 
however, still remain, silent witnesses of the industry which brought 
them into being. The business must have been quite brisk, for it 
seems to have been beyond tlie capabilities of Zack's 13rook to furnish 
sullicient power; and a ]iart of the works was run in connection with 
the grist and saw mill which stood farther to the north and is now 
known as Richards's Mill. In 1832 George Richards bought this ])rop- 
erty of Thomas and Joshua Youngs. It is probable that this mill, or 
one on the same site, has been in existence for more than a century. 

In the Farmington town records there is to be found the following 
instrument connected with the name of Joshua Youngs, which will 
hardly fail to be of interest, reminding us as it does of the brevity of 
the period since slavery was one of the institutions even of Connecticut. 
The record reads as follows : — 

" On Application of Capt. Joshua Youngs of Farmington, in Hartford 
Coiuitv, made to us, one of the civil authority and two of the Selectmen of said 
Farmington, we have examined into the health and age of Titus, a black man, 
now or late a slave of said Youngs, and we do find upon such examination that 
siiid Titus is in good health and is not of greater age than forty-live years, nor of 
less ago tlian twenty-five years, and upon actual examination of said Titus we are 
convinced tliat ho is desirous of being made free. 

"Certified this 10th day of January, a.d. 1816, by us, 

"Jou.v Mix, Ju^ Pads. 
Samuel Richards, ) 5^;^^^^., 
ezekiel cowles, ) 

" Whereas, on application made by me, Joshua Youngs, of Farmington, in the 
county of Hartford, to one of the civil authority and two of the selectmen of said 
Farmington, tliey have signed a certificate tliat Titus, a black man, now or late 
my slave, is in good health and is not of greater age than i'orty-five years, nor of 
less age than twenty live years, and upon examination of said Titus they ai->' 
convinced that he is desirous of being made free. 



200 MEMORIAL HISTORY OP HARTFORD COUNTY. 

" Therefore be it known to all whom it may concern, that I have and hereby 
do completely emancipate and set at liberty the said Titus, so that neither I nor 
any claiming under me shall hereafter have any right whatever to his services in 
virtue of his being my slave. 

" Done at Farmington this 10th day of January, a.d. 181 G. 

"Joshua Youngs. 
" In presence of John Mix, Samuel Cowls. 

"John Mix, Rerjister." 

On Eoaring Broolv, upon the site of Sanford's wood-shop, stood 
formoi'ly a, clothier's establishment, where the wool of the farmers in 
the vicinity was carded, spun, and woven. The old weaving-room is 
still standing, and is occupied as a tenement ; but this business, too, 
had been abandoned before 1830. At the mouth of tlie brook stood 
Langdon's grist and saw mill, well known the country around for good 
work, and in full tide of successful operation. 

It is probable, however, that, when the Farmington Canal was built, 
the inhabitants of Union District were fewer in number than earlier 
in the century. The building of the canal placed Unionville at the 
head of the canal navigation on the Farmington River, and to that 
circumstance the modern village OAves its birth. Mr. Henry Farnam, 
the engineer of the Farmington Canal, had taken the levels of the 
river, Avhen the project of continuing the feeder canal to New Hartford 
was under consideration. It was very likely owing to his suggestion 
that Thomas and Joshua Youngs, John T. Norton, and Abner Bidwell 
joined with Messrs. James and Augustus Cowles in building the dam 
and canal, which were designed to furnish ])ower for tlie manufacture 
of cotton, wool, and iron. These gentlemen applied to the General 
Assembly for a charter, and in May, 1831, the Farmington River 
Water-Power Company was chartered, — the capital stock not to exceed 
•'i'200,000. The Youngs, however, soon sold out their interest, and the 
early leases were made in the name of Norton, Cowles, & Bidwell. The 
first dam and canal cost about 89,000, and were completed in 1831 
or 1832. About that time Messrs. James & Augustus Cowles built the 
store near the new bridge which is now occupied by H. K. Yosburgh 
and owned by the Cowles Pajier Company. A wharf was built on the 
river, back of the store, for the convenient loading and unloading of 
eannl-boats. In 1832 Messrs. Cowles & Co. completed the Patent 
Wood-Screw Factory for Messrs. Sherman Pierpont & Elisha ToUes, of 
Litchfield. Mr. Pierpont was brother to the Rev. John Pierpont, of 
Boston. This building is still standing, and is occupied by the Ripley 
Manufacturing Company. The scrcAV business was abandoned after 
aljout three years. During the half-century that has intervened, tiic 
old factory has been used for many different ])urposes : for the manu- 
facture of clocks, rivets, and spoons, oyster-tongs, axe-helves, mouse- 
traps, and gunstocks. To-day mouse-traps are still made on the 
premises: but the Ripley Manufacturing Company (organized in 1872) 
has added a fine brick structure to the old building, and is also ex- 
tensively engaged in the manufacture of a heavy paper for binders' 
boards. 

The spoon business, which was begun in the old screw-factory, 
is now carried on by Mr. Howard Humphrey in a small sliop run by 
steam, and built within the past year. As long ago as October 13, 



TTNIONVILLE. 201 

1832, Frederick J. Stanley, Petli J. North, and Horace Cowles met at 
the tavern of \oah L. Phelps, in Farminu^ton, to act as arljiters in 
settling a ilillicnlty which hail arisen l)et\veen the i)roi)rietors of the 
water-power and Messrs. I'ierjjont k Tolles, with reference to daniajrcs 
occasioned by an alleijed short supply of water. Notwithstanding the 
fact, however, that tlie first establishment on the water-power liad been 
troubled for lack of water, Messrs. Rufns Stone <fc E. K. Hamilton, 
on tlie 8th of July, 1837, leased land and power for a jiapcr-mill. 
The firm afterward became Stone tt Carrington, and continued in 
operation until 1848, when it sold out to William Platncr and Samuel 
Q. Porter, under whose management the business was for many years 
very successful. In 1853 and 1855 these gentlemen leased additional 
power, and not long after built a second mill. The new mill and 
tenements erected by Messrs. Platner it Porter were models of neat- 
ness and good taste. These gentlemen gave a tone and character to 
the village which uj) to that time had been wanting. Jn 18()0 the 
Platner it Porter Manufacturing Company was organized, with a capi- 
tal of $85,000, and with varied fortunes the company has continued 
manufacturing writing and book papers. As early as 1844 the manu- 
facture of furniture was begun by Lambert Hitchcock in the factory 
near the new river bridge. Up to the period of the war it was carried 
on with fair success. After that time the business gradually declined, 
and a few years ago the old factory was bought by what is now known 
as the Upson Nut Comjiany. 

About 1835 — perhaps a year or two earlier — Mr. L. R. Groves 
began the manufacture of saws, and Messrs. Seymour, Williams, & 
Porter entered into the business of making clocks, on Roaring Brook, 
on the site of the factory lately occupied by the Cowles Hardware 
Company. A capital of some ■'ii30,000 was then invested, but a de- 
structive fire in 183G or 1837 seriously interrupted both enterprises. 
The clock business never seems to have flourished in Unionville after 
the fire, although it was carried on in the screw-factory after the aban- 
donment of the screw business by Pierpont it Co. 

Mr. David A. Keyes finally obtained possession of the site occupied 
by Ciroves and others, and there, he says, made the first mincing-knives 
manufactured in America. He was also among the first Americans to 
make screw-drivers. This business continued on the same ground for 
over forty years, and has only within a few nnmths removed to Bridge- 
port. In Bridgeport the company has erected a factory that will give 
employment to one hundred hands. 

Tlic saw business managed by Mr. Groves was continued by other 
parties, and in 1854 Mr. Albert Hills and Mr. Frederick W. Crum 
built a small factory on the Cowles Canal. The business continued 
until the rise of the great saw-factories in Pennsylvania, during the 
war period, made competition too severe for small concerns. They 
Bold out their factory to the Union Nut Com])any. 

A new dam was built by Mr. James Cowles about the year 1S5G, 
and a few years later an immense reservoir was made at the head of 
the river, most of the different owners of water-power on the stream 
sharing in the ex])ense. 

In 18G9 the head gates and canal were enlarged by James L. Cowles, 
who in 1877 sold out the entire water-power to the different manufac- 



202 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

turers holding leases thereon. These gentlemen, under the name of 
the Union Water-Power Comimny, have raised the dam, and, owing 
to various improvements, the power, which in 1835 could hardly be 
depended upon to furnish water for a single small shop, now runs the 
wheels of five paper-mills, besides the extensive works of the Upson 
Nut Company and the large factory used by the Standard Rule Com- 
pany and the Ujjson & Hart Cutlery Company. 

bwight Langdon began the manufacture of nuts and bolts in 
Unionville in 1857. On his death, a few years later, the business fell 
into the hands of Andrew S. Upson and George Dunham. These 
gentlemen obtained possession of an invention for the manufacture of 
nuts. In 1864 the Union Nut Company (of late changed to the Upson 
Nut Company) was formed, with Andrew S. Upson as president. The 
ownership of this patent, and the able management of Mr. Upson and 
his associates, have served to make this company the most successful 
of all the concerns in the town. It has stores in New York and 
Chicago, besides extensive manufacturing interests in Cleveland. 

The Cowles Paper Company began the manufacture of wrapping- 
paper in 1866. In 1870 the Delaney & Munson Manufacturing Com- 
pany was located in the village, and began the manufacture of collar 
and book paper. This company bought out the factoiy of Ditson, 
Pond, & Co., who in 1866 had begun the manufacture of flutes. 

In 1864 the new turning-shop was built by the estate of James 
Cowles, for John N. Bunnell. Mr. Bunnell did not succeed in the 
enterprise, and in 1872 the Standard Rule Company was organized for 
the manufacture of rules and levels, and occupied the turning-shop. 

In 1880 the Meach & Hart Cutlery Company was formed for the 
manufacture of cutlery. The business had already been undertaken 
by private parties. This concern was changed to the Upson & Hart 
Cutlery Company, who bought the turning-shop and very much en- 
larged it. It manufactures solid steel knives and forks, silver-plating 
a large part of its production on the premises. Tlic Rule Company 
occupies the second story of the building. The oldest merchants in 
Unionville are the firm of Tryon & Sanford ; the}' have been estab- 
lished about thirty-two years ; they now occupy a very handsome brick 
building, and do a flourishing business. There are now in the place, 
besides this old firm, three or four new stores devoted to general busi- 
ness, besides two drug-stores and two hardware-stores. After the 
abandonment of the Parmington Canal the village suffered for some 
time for lack of facilities of transportation ; but in 1850 a branch of 
the New Haven and Northampton Railroad was constructed from Parm- 
ington station through Unionville to Collinsville. Under the able man- 
agement of Mr. Yeamans, the jiresident of the road, this branch has 
become of great importance to the main line of the Canal Road, while 
it has given value to property which, without railroad facilities, must 
have long since gone to decay. 

Previous to 1841 the inhabitants of Unionville, or Union District, 
attended church services in the Old Church in Parmington or in the 
Congregational Church in West Avon. Tlic Parmingion Canal was 
then in operation, and during the navigable season it was customary to 
use a yawl to take the people to church. Starting from the wharf at 



UNIONVILLB. 203 

the store of James and Augustus Cowles, they rowed down to the head 
of the canal. Here they ])as.scd througli tlie head gates, horses were 
attached to the boat, and the company enjoyed a pleasant ride to tlic 
mother settlement. 

The Congregational Churcli was organized March 30, 1841. and has 
enjoved the services of the followinir ministers and deacons. Pastors : 
Rev's Richard Woodruff,' installed June 30, 1842, dismissed May 13, 
1846; Jairus C. Scarle,' installed Sej.t. 0, 1848, dismissed Ai>ril 15, 
1851 : Giles M. Porter, installed Oct. 14. 1852, dismis.sed Oct. 29. 1856; 
Hiram Slauson. installed Dec. 9, 1857, dismissed Dec. 7,1858: Charles 
Brooks.i installed Dec. 21, 1864, died June 11, 1866; T. E. Davies. in- 
stalled May 12, 1869, dismi.sscd Jan. 14, 1883. Slated preachers: 
J. R. Keep, through whose instrumentality the churcli was gathered 
and organized ; James A. Smith, from January, 1 859, to JIay. 1863 ; B. A. 
Smith, during the vears 1863-1864 ; Henry L. Ilubbell. from the s]iring 
of 1866 to the spring of 1868. Deacons: Edward K. Hamilton,^ 
chosen in 1841, resigned in 1859; Cornelius R. Williams, chosen 1841, 
dismissed December, 1849: Walter II. Cowles, chosen Nov. 24,1851, 
dismissed May, 1859 ; William Platner, chosen 1859, dismissed Septem- 
ber, 1864 ; Eber N. Gibbs, chosen November, 1859 ; Seymour D. Closes, 
chosen September, 1864. Present pastor : C. S. Lane, installed May 
27, 1884. 

The Rev. Noah Porter gave tlie charge at the installation of the first 
pastor ; George Richards, Eber N. Gibbs, Edward K. Hamilton, Eli D. 
Preston, William Bradley, and David B. Johnson constituted the church. 
Twelve other persons were soon after admitted. E. K. Ilarailtnn and 
K. Williams were appointed deacons. The first church edifice was 
erected on the Park, but was removed to its present site and enlarged 
in 1852. The congregation has now outgrown the old edifice, and a 
very handsome stone structure is in process of erection adjacent to the 
residence of Mr. Samuel Q. Porter. The membership now numbers 
two hundred and fourteen, — seventy-two males and one hundred and 
forty-two females. 

The parish of Christ Church (Episcoi)al) at Unionvillc was organ- 
ized 1845. Occasional services were held in various places imtil 
June 2'.\ 1871, when the corner-stone of the church now standing was 
laid : the edifice was completed in the Doccml)er following. On August 
12, 1880, all indebtedness having been removed, the church was con- 
secrated bv Bishop John Williams. Since 1868 there has been a rector 
settled over the church: E. K. Brown from 1868 to 1878; William 
Lusk from 1878 to 1879; and A. E. Beeman from 1879 to 1885. 

The Methodist church in Unionvillc was built about nineteen years 
ago. It has a congregation of about one lumilred and fifty, and a 
membership of seventy ; the pastor is the Rev. Nelson Edwards. 

The Rev. Luke Daly inaugurated the first Roman Catholic services 
in the village in 1854. He continued to serve the people until 1856, 
when he was succeeded by the Rev. Patrick O'Dwyer. The Rev. John 
Fagan came next in 1861, and remained until 1868. Then came the 
Rev. Lawrence Walsh, who was succeeded in 1870 by the Rev. B. O'R. 
Sheridan, the present incumbent. A large and attractive church was 

> Deceased. 



204 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

built under his direction, at a cost of from $25,000 to 130,000. It 
was dedicated in 1876. The Roman Catholic population is from five 
hundred to six hundred. 

According to the last enumeration, there are in Union District four 
himdred and sixty-five children of school age. 

The first bridge across the river on the road now leading to the depot 
was built in 1846. The new covered bridge in the same place was 
built in 1860. Tlie first bridge at Richards's Mill appears to have been 
built in 1837 or 1838. 



^QyyiyKJ2^ 




XIII. 
GLASTONBURY. 

BY WILLIiUI S. GOSLEE. 

ON the 8th of May, 1600, the General Court of the Colony of 
Coiineeticut, on the petition of Epliraim Goodrich, Joseph Smith, 
John Harrinffton, Thomas Brewer, Ebenczer Hale, John Strick- 
land, John Hale, SVilliam House, Samuel Hale, 8r., Patrick Stearne, 
Richard Treat. Sr.. Tliomas Treat, Richard Smith, John HoUister, 
Jonatiian Smith, Samuel Hale, Jr., Samuel Smith, John Hubbard, 
Josejih Hills, John Killiourn. Samuel Welles, Thomas Hale, Richard 
Treat, Jr., and William Wickham, residents of Wcthersfield, and own- 
ers of land belonjjing to that town, on the east side of Connecticut 
River, by consent of that town, given the preceding December, 
granted them an act of incorjjoration, " that they may Ise a township 
of themselves, and have liberty to provide themselves a minister." In 
granting their petition the General Court advised them " to be cautious 
how they improve it," and stipulated that until they should have a 
good orthodox minister settled among them, " they should pay their 
full proportion to all public charge to AVethersfield." 

With this caution, the persons above named and their associates 
seem to have i)voceeded deliberately in the work of organization, having 
previously ' located their meeting-house on the ground afterward 
known as the " Green." The fomiders of the town having come from 
tiie neighborhood of Glastonbury in England, the General Court, in 
June, 1692, with a disregard for correct spelling, in whicli the succeed- 
ing generations down to the ])resent have sympathized, named the " town 
at Nabuc, over against Wcthersfield," '■ Glasscnbury."- The name is 
practically uni([ue in this country, there lieing no other ]>ost-oflice of 
that name, and only one other town, Glastcnlniry, situated among the 
Green Jlouutains in Vermont. 

The Rev. Timothy Stevens came here to reside April 15, 1692. 
The inhaliitants met in town-meeting on the 28th of the succeeding 
July, and expressed their unanimous desire that Mr. Stevens should 
continue and settle in the work of the ministry among them ; made a 
generous provision town-wise, and by tiie grants of individuals, for his 
settlement, including the building a residence for him ; and appro- 
priated for his salary £60 "current money" per year. Joseph Hill, 

> Februan-, 1690. 

* This method of spelling the name continued to he used in the records until nhout one 
hundred years ago, when it was ohangeil to " Glastcnbury," and so written until 1870, when 
the town, by vote, made it "Glastonbury," by which name it is now known in the State and 
nation. 



206 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Ephraim Goodrich, and Eleazar Kimberly were chosen townsmen (or 
selectmen), and Eleazar Kimberly, town clerk. Mr. Kimberly con- 
tinued as town clerk until his death, Feb. 3, 1708-9, and in his pen- 
manship and method of keeping records has not been surpassed by 
any of his successors. He was also secretary of the colony from 1696 
until his decease, and was the first deputy from this town to the General 
Assembly, May session, 1694. 

Glastonbury was the first town in the colony of Connecticut formed 
by the division of another town. Its earlier history and traditions are 
inseparably a part of those of the mother-town, and as such are amply 
treated in Mr. Adams's history of "Wethersfield. We have the satis- 
faction of knowing that territorially we sprang from, and are connected 
with, the oldest town in this Commonwealth, and that nothing but the 
ceaseless tide of the Connecticut River was the occasion of our separa- 
tion. The territory included in Glastonbury is six miles in width from 
north to south, and eight miles in length from east to west. These 
measurements are by estimate, and probably are actually exceeded by 
a large fraction of a mile, especially as to length. In 1803 a part of the 
southeast corner was detached, to form, with portions of Hebron and 
Colchester, the town of Marlborough ; to which another small portion 
was added some ten years later, and in 1859 a small farm owned by 
Henry Finlcy. Aside from these, no change has been made, except by 
a resolve of "the General Assembly in 1874, fixing the river as the boun- 
dary on the west between the towns of Wethersfield and Glastonbury. 
The town is bounded north by East Hartford and Manchester ; east by 
Bolton, Hebron, and Marlborough ; south by Marlborough, Chatham, 
and Portland ; west by the Connecticut River, or the towns of Wethers- 
field, Rocky Hill, and Cromwell. It has almost every variety of surface, 
from the level plains of its northwestern portion, the elevated table-land 
of Nipsic, to the rugged ridges of Minnechaug, Seankum or Dark Hollow, 
and Meshomasic, and the hilly region approaching the river at Red 
Hill in Nayaug. The activity of the fathers in " lifting up their axes 
upon the thick trees" at an "early period denuded the country of its 
forests, so that miles in extent could be swept with a glance of the eye. 
Its soil is as varied as its surface, — from the fertile meadows on the river 
to the beautiful and productive second lift of land between these and the 
meadow hill, and the lighter, sandy, and loamy lands upon the higher 
ground extending to the foot of the hills. In the eastern and southern 
portion it becomes more rocky, with occasional patches entirely free from 
stones. In the northeastern portion its fertility is principally confined 
to the valleys between the rugged hills of Minnechaug and Kongscut and 
the table-land to the north and west ; and in the southern part along 
the valley of the Roaring Brook adjoined by the table-lands in the ro- 
mantic vale of Wassuc, and the higher grounds in the southern part of 
the town. The mountains, as they are called in this State, together 
with their spurs, are connected with the great eastern range which 
comes down from tlie valley of the Chicopee River in Massachusetts 
and is broken through by the Connecticut River at the " Straits " 
below Middletown. They afford, from their summits and declivities, 
unsurpassed views of the Connecticut valley. The streams which flow 
through the town, following the natural course of the valleys from 
northeast to southwest, form a pleasing feature in the landscape. 



GLASTONBURY. 207 

Roaring Brook is also famous in its upper part as the habitation of 
tiie trout, tliough many of its seekers have often proclaimed them- 
selves the victims of misplaced confidence. Still farther east lies the 
lake known as Diamond I'ond, from tiic shining rocks sprinkled with 
garnets found near its banks. This is fed by springs clear as crystal, 
and abounds in fish. 

Tiie organization of this town was in great part the work of Eleazar 
Kimlterly, assisted, as it is said, by the wise counsel, among otlicrs, of 
the Rev. and Hon. Clershom Bulkcley,^ an ancestor of the Bulkclcy 
family in this country. By the intermarriage of his daughter Dorothy 
with Tiiomas Ti'eat, of Nayaug, grandson of Richard Treat, one of the 
first settlers of Wethersdeld, he became also the ancestor of a large 
part of the descendants of the ancient families of this town. He was 
a man of marked ability, possessed in a large measure of the learn- 
ing of that day, being clergyman, physician, and lawyer. His attach- 
ment to monarchy, as shown in that most curious document, " Will and 
Doom," a copy of which, obtained from the archives of the English 
Government, is deposited in the library of the Connecticut Histori- 
cal .Society, does not seem to liave affected the wisdom and prudence 
of his counsels as one of the founders of our municipality, which sliow 
him, notwithstanding his prejudices, to have been worthy of his birth 
as a true American. He died in this town Dec. 2, 1713, aged sev- 
enty-eight, while on a visit to his daughter Dorothy (Mrs. Treat). 

The ancient surveys of the lots in the west three miles were made 
prior to 1()84, under the auspices of Wothersfield. By that survey each 
proprietor had a strip of land assigned to him of a certain number of 
rods in widtli, fronting on the river, and extending back three miles to 
the eastward. Each share included a section of the meadow, the fertile 
and arable lands adjoining it on the east, and the " wilderness " at the 
end of his lot. An ample measure of land was reserved for the " coun- 
try road," or main street, then, as now, six rods in width, and other 
convenient liighways to intersect the same from the east ; while, to make 
up for the land taken for the street, an extunsion of many times its 
width was annexetl to the east end of the lots, and itoundcd i)y land left 
for a highway of ample dimensions running from the north to the south 
bounds of the town. Still farther east were measured out the '' five 
large miles," whicli, soon after the organization of the town, were as- 
sumed as the property of the town and its proprietors, and regarded as 
undivided public lands, to be held for future distribution to its citizens, 
as their interests might require. Claimants from other towns were 
evicted, and the interests of the town in tlie lands and the lumber 
thereon were protected by votes of the town, and by suits when re- 
quired. The westernmost mile of this tract was established as com- 
mon land, but grants were made from it to settlers from time to time 
before the year 1700. It was, however, too valuable to be held in this 
way, including as it did the beautiful and fertile section of Xipsic, with 
its mineral spring, and Nipsic Pond (long since drained by the ad- 
joining proprietors). Finally it, with all the other eastern lands, was 
divided among the town inhabitants from time to time, in proportion 

' His .lutograijU may be fouuJ in tlio WethersfielJ history. 



208 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



to their lists and position, by the proprietors and the town. In 1768 
the whole matter was closed from all further controversy. All the 
grants were made in fee. Two hundred acres near Nipsic Pond 
were given to the First and Second societies in equal shares, which 
were immediately leased by them for nine hundred and ninety-nine 
years. 

Many of the farms on the " street " are now held by the lineal de- 
scendants of the lirst settlers ; and in the case of the Welles family, 
descendants of Governor Thomas Welles, the descendants of George 
Hubbard, Frances Kilbourn, and John Hollistcr, the titles go back to 
the survey of 1640. The descendants of Richard Smith, Samuel Hale,- 
Samuel Talcott,i William Goodrich, Thomas Treat, and Edward Ben- 
ton still own a portion of the lands their ancestors improved in 1684. 
Wright's Island has been in the family of James Wright ever since the 
first allotment in 1640. In the East Farms, now comprising what is 
known as East Glastonbury and Buckingham, the land was taken up 
at a later period, but the families of Andrews, Curtis, Dickinson, Goslee, 
Hills, Hodge, Hollister, House, Howe, and Strickland trace their titles 
for nearly two centuries. 

The material used for building was wood, so that there are few of 
the dwellings now standing that are more than one hundred years old. 




ik^M%m 



'i ,^^ '' '''h^[^^:JiJ: /''•: 



THE HOLLISTER HOUSE, 1G75. 

The old Hollister house at South Glastonbury is said to have been built 
in 1675, in which case it was probably erected by John Hollister, the 
second of that name, son of one of the early settlers of Wethersfield. 
He is said not to have lived constantly on this side, although he owned 
and improved land here. He is distinguished as having been the de- 



' Often in the records spelled "Tallcott.' 



GLASTONBURY. 



209 



fciulaiit and the vanquished party in a lawsiiit before the General Court, 
witii the redoubtable Ger.shoui Bulkcley as his antafronist. Tiiis mansion 
is said to be the oldest wooden house now standing in this State, and 
is in excellent repair ; and bids fair, accidents not preventing, to stand 




^-;^ 









.. -.- ,. ,, "R^y 



THE TALCOTT HOUSE, 1699. 

as long again. Another famous dwelling was the old Talcott house, 
built about 1699, which occupied the site of the present residence of 
the venerable Jared G. Talcott, and was built by Samuel Talcott for his 
son Benjamin Talcott, grandson of the first settler, John Talcott, who 
came from JMigland in 1632. This house was fortified in the earlier 
part of its liistory, and bore the sliarp 

compliment of an Indian tomahawk fi^ . ^^~/ ^ 0/ 

upon one of its doors. The house /^'^"^^'-'*^~<o7yy (^^^^^^f^ 
now standing near Welles Corner, 

formerly occupied by Jared Welles, was built by Samuel Welles for 
his son Thaddeus, a great-grandson of Governor Thomas Welles, and 
brother of Colonel Thomas Welles, who occupied the old mansion re- 
moved by David C. Brainard within a short time. Welles Corner, with 
its elegant and ancient elms, is the site of the domicile of the first an- 
cestor of (lie Welles family resident in Glastonbury, though the present 
house has hardly completed the century. Besides the ancient houses 
built by John Goslee, Samuel Talcott, and Thomas Ilollister, in the 
eastern part, tiicre are a number of very respectable anticpiity in differ- 
ent parts of the town. 

The first meeting-house was erected on the Green, at or about the 
time of tiie Rev. Jlr. Stevens's ordination, in October, 1093. It was en- 
larged in 1700, and stooil until destroyed by fire on the night of Dec. 9. 
1734. The second meeting-house, l)y compromise between the north and 
south, and by the decision of the General Court, was erected on the main 

VOL. u. — u. 



210 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

street, about one fourth of a mile south of the Green, standing half in 
the street, just north of the old Moseley tavern,^ ^vhere David H. Carrier 
now lives. It was used as a church for more than a century, having 
been built in 1735. On the division of the society in 183(5, by the 
establishment of the society at South Glastonbury, it was abandoned 
as a meeting-house, and during the year 1837 was demolished. The 
town, on the establishment of the East Farms as a society, had no 
further care of ecclesiastical matters, neither did it resume the charge 
of schools and cemeteries until a hundred and twenty years later. The 
meeting-house spoken of was forty-four feet wide and fifty-six long, and 
twenty-four feet in heiglit between joints. It was clapboarded without 
and ceiled within, the walls being filled (a very proper thing in those 
stoveless days), and the whole " finished in a manner suitable for a 
Christian people to worship God in." It was furnished with a high 
pulpit, overshadowed b)' a sounding-board at the west end, pews for the 
dignitaries, and seats and galleries on three sides for those of lesser 
magnitude, and included a seat in the southeast corner, somewhat 
raised, for the colored servants. 

The number of people at the East Farms having increased, and the 
space between them and the western people being too extended for con- 
tinuous attendance on public worship, they petitioned the General Court 
in 1730 for the establishment of a separate society. David Hubbard, 
Thomas Hollister, and others represented them. The petition was 
granted, and those inhabiting the East Farms, and certain other resi- 
dents on the mile of common, with their farms, were allowed to be a 
distinct ministerial society, called Eastbury. Stephen Andrews, the 

ancestor of the Andrews iamily, 

*->i^«./i y <L. /- Ji ^ t ^ ^^'^^ *^^° ^^'^^ clerk of the society. 
J^-^'^y^vl^ai^ mU^J%V^A^>-^ In 1765 the mile of commons was 

wholly annexed to the East Society. 
Upon the petition of David Hubbard and others in their behalf to the 
General Court in May, 1732, a committee was appointed to view the 
selected site for their place of public worship, '' being near a certain 
rock near a pond called Little Nipsick." This committee made its 
report, which was accepted in October, 1732, locating the place " upon 
the northerly part of a plain in said society, being northeasterly of a 
pond called Little Nipsic, about ten rods southeasterly of a small pine 
marked on the southeasterly side with the letter ' H,' — to be set on the 
highest range of a plain where there is laid a small heap of stones." 
The order was thereupon made that " said inhabitants forthwitii proceed 
and set up the same at said place." The meeting-house was begun 
during the next year, but not finished until three years later. In archi- 
tecture it was similar to the house erected in the First Society about 
the same time, though it was somewhat smaller, being " forty feet long, 
thirty-five feet wide, with eighteen-feet posts." Neither had steeple 
or bell, and both were of the " barn order" of building, which, however 
well adapted to shelter a public assembly, does not afford much scope 
for the gratification of architectural taste. The location was extremely 
lonely, no dwelling, except for the sleeping dust of our ancestors, having 

1 The tract of land on which this house stands was originally ninety-three rods wide, and 
was purchased by Joseph Maudsley (afterward WTitten Moseley) in 1718. His descendants 
now own a portion of it. 



GLASTONBURY. 211 

ever been erected near by. In 1821, after an agitation of more than 
twentv years for a new location, tiic society accepted a mceting-iiouse 
from tlie jirojirietors, havinjj in 1819 voted to sell the old one and the 
land on which it stood. Tliis new meeting-house, aside from being 
ample in size, was, after many improvements, not much more "a thing 
of beauty " than the first. So in 1807 a new meeting-house was erected, 
with steeple and bell, which is a landmark among the hills of Buck- 
ingham, — as the society has been named, from the post-office estab- 
lished there in 1867. 

By the division of the First Society in 1836, and the dilapidation of 
its ancient ediliee, a new mccting-hou.se became a necessity for the 
mother organization, and it was so voted in society's meeting Jamiary 17, 
1837. This was located farther to the north, on land which in 1640 was 
owned by the Rev. Ilcnrv Smith, the first settled minister of Wethers- 
field (from 1641 to 1648), and later (in 1684) by Samuel Hale, the an- 
cestor of the Hale family. It was built in 1837, under the supervision 
of David Hubbard, Josiah B. HoIuk's, George Plummer, Benjamin Hale, 
and Ralph Carter, as a building committee. It was a very tasteful 
edifice, ^tith tower, bell, and clock, especially attractive after its enlarge- 
ment and thorough repair in 1858, which made it a most fitting and 
beautiful sanctuary. It was l)urned on the morning of Sunday, Dec. 23, 
1866. The church which takes its place was erected in the year follow- 
ing, and with its graceful spire (rebuilt in 1880) forms a prominent 
object in the views of the valley. 

The Congregational meeting-house at South Glastonbury was erected 
in 1837. It occupies a commanding position in that village, and has, 
among other improvements, a large town clock. 

The Episcopalians organized St. Luke's Parish about 1806, and 
built their church soon after, — a quaint and modest edifice in what, 
measuring on the main street from north to south, is the old historic 
centre of the town. It was occupied for church purposes until about 
1838, when a brick church was erected in South Glastonbury village. 
The old edifice was used for various educational purposes until about 
1860, when it was removed farther south on the main street, and is 
now known as Academy Hall. About 1858 the same denomination, 
at the northern ]iart of the town, including a part of East Hartford, 
formed the St. James Parish, and erected a church a short distance 
above Welles Corner. 

The Methodist organization was formed in 1796, and in 1810 
erected its plain and unpretending house of worship at Wassuc, near 
the then residence of " Father" Jeremiah Stocking, just north of the 
school-house. The numbers for many years were few ; but incited by 
the enthusiastic clergymen ' of their denomination at that day, they 

1 Among the many who favored the company of believers with their .<ipirit-stimng pres- 
ence and exhortations was the Rev. John N. Maflitt, afterward a Doctor of Divinity. The 
Hon. .John R. Buck sends to the writir the following reminiscence : — 

John N. Maffitt, the elder, cnnie to Olastoiihury in ISIO, in the early part of the year, and 
later on in the year liis wife followed him from Ireland, where Maffitt hail left her, and came to 
this countrj' alone. She then first met him in Glastonbury at the liouse of the Rev. Jeremiah 
Stocking, during the progre.>is of a prayer-meeting wliieh Mallitt was conducting. JIaffitt. who 
had rare natural gifts of oratory, somewhat of the coarse quality hut matchless in elTect, 

f reached not only in Glastonbury hut in many ailjoining towns for some time afterward, 
n that year both his wife and infant son were taken sick iu Hartford and were convevcd to 



212 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

more than made up in zeal and fervency of spirit what they lacked in 
numbers. 

On the removal of the ancient Congregational place of worship to 
its present location, their attendance increased so tliat in 1847 the old 
house was tai^en down and a new one built near Roaring Brook, in the 
present village of East Glastonbury. This is a beautiful edifice,^ and 
with its sister church farther up the valley in Buckingham rings forth 
the sound of the " church-going bell " as the fathers in this portion of 
the town never heard in their generation. 

A Methodist church at South Glastonbury was ei'ected in 1828. 
Tliis is a brick edifice, and is the only one in town without spire or 
bell. 

A Baptist meeting-house is said to have been erected on Matson 
Hill about fifty years ago. It has long since disappeared, and its exact 
location is known to but very few people. 

As in most country towns, the subdivision into various ecclesiastical 
organizations has been a source of weakness to each. The thoughtful 
care of the fathers furnished the several Congregational churches with 
limited funds by which they are materially assisted in their proper 
work. 

The Roman Catholic church, St. Augustine, at South Glastonbury, 
was built in 1878, and supplies a long-felt want of a large number of 
people in devotional exercises. The edifice is finely situated on the 
rising ground overlooking the village, and of very tasteful model. 

Our ancestors at an early day provided a school for the children of 
the town, the selectmen having hired one Robert Poog as schoolmaster 
in 1701, at the expense of the town and by its direction. Schools were 
then established at the Green, at Nayaug in 1708, and at the East 
Farms in 1714. They were supported half by taxation and half by 
assessment upon the children between six and twelve years of age, 
" whether they attended school or not." Before the close of the eigh- 
teenth century an academy was located on the Green, and in the 
early part of the present century at South Glastonbury. Both these 
buildings were destroyed by fire. Efforts have been made from time 
to time to secure the establishment of academies ; but owing to lack 
of permanent endoAvments, notwithstanding the expense of their in- 
ception on the part of public-spirited individuals, they have in all 
cases maintained a sickly and temporary existence, though a great 
benefit to our educational interests while they lasted. The Glastonbury 
Academy, establislied in 1869, is the only one which i-emains in exist- 
ence, and only waits for a small portion of the funds that are lavished 
on foreign objects, to become a ]iermancnt educational institution worthy 
of the town whose name it bears. The eastern people for a long series 

the residence of HalseyBuck (Mr. Buck's father), in Glastonbury, where they were both cared 
for in his family. Mrs. Maffitt soon recovered, but the lad continued ill for many months. 
However, he finally recovered and again joined his father, who had in the mean time contin- 
ued visiting his wife and sick boy at the I'esidence of Mr. Buck as opiiortunity offered. This 
incident acquired an additional interest when afterward the elder JIaffitt became chaplain of 
the Lower House of Congress; and when, still later, the little sick boy became known to the 
world as John N. Maffitt, commander of the Rebel privateer " Florida," sailing in the service of 
the late so-called Southern Confederacy. 

1 Burned June 14, 1885, but rebuilding began at once. 



GLASTONBURY. 213 

of years had a select school during a part of the time in an academy 
building near the homestead of David E. Jluhliard, Esq., wiiich was 
attended by a large number of our older citizens, including many from 
the adjoining towns of Bolton and Manchester. The basement of the 
Methodist Episcopal churcii in East Glastonbury was also used for 
that purpose for some time after its erection. 

Columbia Lodge, Xo. 2o, F. & A. M., located first at Stepney (now 
Rocky Hill) in the latter part of the last century, is one of the oldest 
country lodges in the State. It was removed to South Glastonbury in 
the early part of the present century, and has ever since held as its 
property the building on the corner near tlie present residence of 
George Pratt, formerly owned by Stcplicn Shi])man and Jedidiah Post 
in succession. Many of our prominent men — including Jonathan 
Welles, Deacon Asa Goslce, Henry Dayton, and George Merrici\ — 
have been members and Masters. Daskam Lodge No. 86 was estab- 
lished at the north part in 18o7, and has recently iinished and occupied 
its own building for lodge purposes, and a small public hall in the 
lower story. 

The population of this town in 1790 was 2,732, and in 1880, 3,580. 
The farming po])ulation has evidently decreased ■witiiin the last hun- 
dred years, but the advent of manufactures has rather increased tlie 
total. At present farming is ^y^ *- w^ .,^/f/f 

profitable, and it only requires the [^ .^0\J~Ly%f^ -^f'^e^-^^'^B^ 
attention which is bestowed on ^^ a 

other business to make it more so. The pioneer i"n packing and mar- 
keting Connecticut seed-leaf 
toljacco was Oswin Welles, 
Esq., a native and resident of 




///^^2^aJP f'l'-^ town. 
>.// /t-^t-''— c^ ^ jjj ^YxQ early history of this 

town, and down to within liv- 
ing memory, large amounts 
of corn, potatoes, rye, oats, and otiur farm products were shij^ped to 
the West Indies, with horses and mules, salt pork and Ijcef. Ebenezer 
Plummcr, Snmuel Welles, and others at the north ]»art of the town, 
John Welles, Lyman Mungcr, Henry H. Welles, Russell C. Welles, and 
others at South Glastonbury, had not only a large domestic commerce, 
but also carried on a large trade with the West Indies, some of it in 
articles not now regarded with favor for ordinary consumption. 

Shii)-building was also pursued at Pratt's Ferry until within the last 
sixty years. The ancient ship-yard has long since become the bed of 




^c-t -^ -Cc^-cjZ^ 



the river. The Welleses, Sellews, and Hales were extensively engaged 
in that business; and later, between 1840 and 1850, Cai)tain'Chaunccv 



214 MEMORIAL HISTOEY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Gaines built four large sailing-vessels. At South Glastonbury Cap- 
tain Roswell Hollister and others built a large number early in this 
^ century, and the last (a barge) was 

ty^<X'U'^tix /^^-^^^ICur- ''\"lt ^y Captain Martin Hollister about 
lo70. 
Previous to tlic incorporation of the town a grant was made by the 
General Court to Thomas Harris of forty acres for a mill-site, which 
was in the present limits of this town. This grant was afterward 
assigned to Joseph Bull and John Bidwell, Jr., who in 1G69 received 
an additional grant of two hundred acres for the same purpose. This, 
I judge, must have been on Salmon Brook, probably at or near where 
the village of Eagle Mills now stands. Provisions were also made 
by the town for the encouragement of those disposed to erect mills, by 
grants of sites and land. In 1706 permission was given to Sergeant 
John Hubbard, Thomas Hale, Sr., John Gaines, and William John- 
son, " to erect a saw-mill upon Roaring Brook, where it may not be 
prejudicial to any particular person, and to get timber from the com- 
mons for the use of said mill." I do not identify this location. In 
1712 permission was given to Gershom Smith, Thomas Hollister, Jona- 
than Judd, Samuel Brooks, Ebenezer Kilbourn, and Thomas Kimberly 
" to build a saw-mill on the northernmost branch of Roaring Brook " 
at Wassuc, and confirmed to the above with John Kilbourn and Joseph- 
-Tryon a year or two later. The site of this mill is now occupied by 
the mill of the Roaring Brook Paper Manufacturing Company. 

The several streams were occupied at an early day by mills, many 
of which have become by the kpse of years nothing but a memory 
or an indistinct tradition. On Salmon Brook, having its source in 
Lily Pond, on the summit of the Hill Minnechaug, was the carding- 
machine of Stephen Hurlburt^ and his predecessors, the stream just 
below being now used for a similar purpose by the heirs of George A. 
Hurlburt, on the site of an ancient still. Below is the saw-mill of 
W. H. & W. E. Howe. Farther down were the casting-works of Cap- 
tain Jared Strickland, maker of a patent hand coffee-mill, used in fami- 
lies before the days of ground coffee and spices. Between this and the 
Eagle Mills, so far as I can learn, no other site was occupied. Tlie 
Eagle Mills site was originally a saw-mill ; then, soon after the Revolu- 
tion, used for a clothing and fulling mill by Fraray Hale, Jr., and 
others ; and then operated by the Eagle Manufacturing Company, 
organized under special act in 1822, with Samuel Welles, Robert Wat- 
kinson, Daniel H. Arnold, Fraray Hale, Jr., and Aristarchus Champion 
as corporators. By them and their successors a small wooden mill was 
erected and enlarged, and in 1832 a brick mill was erected a short dis- 
tance below. The company went through varying stages of prosperity 
in the manufacture of woollen goods, until it failed in 1848. Since then 
the mills have passed through the hands of several proprietors, until 
now the whole property is owned by the Glastonbury Knitting Company 
(A. L. Clark, president), whose trade-mark on their goods is con- 
sidered, as it should be, a full guarantee of their excellence. Below 
is the site (now disused) of a saw-mill, formerly operated by Messrs. 
Osman and Otis House ; and still farther down is the site of an ancient 

1 Mr. Hurlburt was the pioneer in, and inventor of, the art of making felt hats by 
machinery. 



GLASTONBURY. 215 

{irist-inill, granted by the town in 1715 to E|)hraini Bidwell and Ridian], 
Joseph, and Gershom Smith. This use was continued until 1870, when 
the property was purchased hy the '• Case Brothers " of Manchester; 
and the mill, enhuged and inijiroved, with auxiliary steam-power, is 
now devoted to the making of binder's board. Nearer the river was an 
ancient saw-mill belonging to the Wellcscs, and used by Oswin "Welles 
in his younger years for that purpose, and as a manufactory of wooden- 
ware until 184(J. Then it was conveyed to Frederick Curtis, and, with 
the land and buildings connected tlicrewith by succeeding conveyances, 
was subsc(|uently used as an extensive^ manufactory of ])lated silver- 
ware by him and his successors, F. Curtis iS: Co., the Curlisville Jlanu- 
facturing Company, the Connecticut Arms & Manufacturing Company 
(they adding thereto the making of firearms), until, by various 
changes, it is now held Ijy the Williams Brothers JIanufacturing 
Company, and used for the manufacture of cutlery and plated ware 
with good success. The Island (Wright's) anciently extended north- 
erly to about opposite the mouth of this brook, with a long stretch 
of meadow intervening. The lirook, or creek, instead of going to the 
west across this meadow, turned to the south and followed the track 
now known as " Crooked Hollow," and emptied into Roaring Brook 
(at that point called .Sturgeon River) near its mouth. At an early 
date in this century (I am unable to state the exact time) a channel 
was cut from the southward bend westerly to the river, which the 
stream has followed until the river, by its continued wear at that point 
to the eastward, has reached the meadow hill above and below. 

The stream next below rises in the region of Nipsic, and was utilized 
for the site of tanneries by John Cleaver at an early date, and by David 
and Norman Hubbard, their predecessors and ancestors. One tannery 
still exists, on the New London and Hartford turnpike road, owned by 
Isaac Broadhead, the excellence of whose product (hog-skins for sad- 
dlery) is noted in our foreign as well as domestic trade. Just below 
Messrs. Chauncey & William II. Turner, some sixty or more years ago, 
succeeded John Cleaver (also a tanner) in a clothing works, which the 
changed methods of housewifery has long since caused to be disused 
and pass away. A short distance fai-ther down was a grist-mill, on 
land anciently belonging to John Ilubliard, and also a bark-mill and 
tanneries belonging to David Hubbard about fifty years ago. This 
privilege is now owned by the J. B. AVilliams Company, successors of 
Messrs. James B. <fc William S. Williams, who established themselves 
here about 1850 in the manufacture of soaps of all kinds, ink, and shoe- 
blacking. Their business is now confined to the former articles. Their 
success, consequent upon a career of active intelligent business, is such 
as to have greatly benefited themselves, their town, and all good enter- 
prises. Just east of the main street, known to but few, is the site of 
an old distillery, which the changed ideas as well as habits of the 
community have long since caused to disap])ear. A large brickyard 
was also located near this point. This stream empties into the great 
meadow-drain whose waters, increased by the intervening streams, 
debouch into the Connecticut at Red Hill, at a point formerly known 
as Brooks Island. 

The main street crosses the next brook, over a bridge with a hand- 
somely turned brick arch, which has stood for more than a century, 



216 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

and bids fair to stand as much longer. Robert Moseley has a small 
sasb-and-blind factor}^ a short distance above. 

The next, or Smith brook, crosses the main street just south of 
the ancient Kimberley mansion. Zephaniah Hollister Smith, Esq., 
successively minister, doctor, and lawyer (in which last capacity he was 

only known officially in this town, 
)~/^ y ^ ^ //J /^ although born here), occupied 

"'^^..^y^A. "J^f^G/^C^T.*,-^^'*-' *^^'^ house from aljout 1790 until 
'^ his death, in 1836. His widow, 

Mrs. Hannah H. Smith, and her fire daughters, remained here until 
her decease in 1851, and the latter during the remainder of their lives, 
— except Miss Julia E. Smith, the fourth daughter, who, soon after the 
decease of her last surviving sister, was married to the Hon. Amos 
A. Parker, of Fitzwilliain, New Hampshire, and removed to Hartford 
in 1884. The youngest two of the family were the " Smith Sisters," 
with whom the town, in collecting its taxes, was obliged to contend. 
It was a contest in the newspapers and the courts, lasting from 
1875 to 1879 ; and notwithstanding all the trouble and expense, and 
the unreasonable and undeserved abuse and misrepresentation heaped 
upon the town, its officers, and citizens, it taught us so to make out our 
assessment lists and rate-bills as not to require a "healing act" to make 
them legal and collectible. Tiie ladies were somewhat distinguished as 
linguists, Miss Julia having translated the Bible from the original 
languages, and published the same at her own expense. 

On the brook near the house, west from the main street a short dis- 
tance, in the early part of the present century, Messrs. Joseph and 
Tliomas Stevens, Jr., erected a forge, 
with a trip-hammer, on an ancient 
water-privilege. Being active, hard- 
working men, possessed at that time 
of considerable means, they soon had a very profitable business in 
making and furnishing ship irons, anchors, etc. In an e\il and ill- 
f> - y - » - advised hour, it is said, they were 

JPun^CL^^^O^^^y^ fr Pei-suaded by Esquire Smith to 
•^ '^'^ • // sign a paper, or make an ac- 

(/ knowledgment amounting to a 

lease of his land, which their pond had covered for many years without 
question. Then they were in his power as tenants at will, their dam 
had to come down after multi|)lied actions at law, their business was 
ruined, and they wcie finaneially destroyed. They "were compelled to 
abandon the enterprise ; '' not, as has been stated elsewhere,^ " by the 
neighbors," " on the ground that a trip-hammer was a nuisance in the 
midst of a village," but by the force of law, consequent upon their un- 
witting sacrifice of their rights. Rightly or wrongly, the sympathy of 
the people was with them in their troubles ; and the town itself, at its 
annual meeting on Nov. 1, 1813, " voted, that the town, on the petition of 
Joseph and Thomas Stevens, Jr., to join by a committee in their petition 
to tlie General Asscm))ly against Zeiihaniah H. Smith, do grant said 
petition, and do appoint Messrs. Oliver Hale and Benjamin Hale [one 
of the representatives] a committee." But notliing availed to loosen 

' Glastenbury Centennial, p. 126. 



Oct^/t^ ^/tJzZ</yt^ 



GLASTONBURY. 217 

the grip of theii- powerful aiit;ii;onist ; and the delicate ears of the 
"neighbors" were soothed by the continuous silence, autl their aestlietic 
tastes were no longer disturbed by the jar of the triihhanimer, or their 
slumbers disijuietcd by the croaking of the frogs. 

The small stream next south has lieen iniijrovcd by Francis Taylor 
for many years past as the motive-power for a saw and grist mill. 
Mr. Taylor and the Messrs. Howe, in Buckingham, did formerly a 
large business in coopering, but the disuse of ciiler and of wooden 
powder-kegs has made it much less. 

Wc now come to Roaiing Broi^k, which, rising in the extreme 
northeast corner of this town, nearly l)isects it diagonally to its mouth 
at .South (Uastonbury. Although its power is well improved now, the 
review of its former labors will compare favorably with the present in 
number. Near its head was formerly a saw-mill run by Nathaniel llulj- 
bard. Still further down is the site of another and ancient saw-mill on 
the noted if not valuable '• Coop farm." It is now owned, with other 
lands on the stream below, by Charles II. Owen, Esq. About a mile 
farther down are the vestiges of another saw-mill. Still farther, and 
the old blacksmith shop on the Hebron road, remembered by many 
yet living as the ])lace of the true and faithful work i>f Deacon Asa 
Goslee and his son Asa, which formerly, with its large undershot 
wheel and trip-hammer, took advantage of the water-power and is 
now abandoned. Hardly a vestige remains of the dam still farther 
on, which was connected with a clothier's shop some seventy years 
ago. Passing up the branch known as Slab Brook, we are on the site of 
the saw-mill grant to Jonathan Treat, used in the early part of the 
century by Fraray Plale, Jr., as a place for a carding-machine. Some 
of the dam-logs and the excavation for the raceway are there, but no 
one living ever saw the building. Still farther east, in a lot carved from 
the farm a portion of which is owned by the writer, are a cellar and 
wheel-pit, which the traditions of more than a hundred years fix as the 
site of a linseed-oil mill. Below, on the main stream, were the saw-mill 
and carding-machine of Elijah Covell, where for so many years he 
counselled the boys and praised the girls of succeeding generations. 
The old stream now passes it unvexed liy any wheel. Tlie rt'servoir of 
the Crosliy Manufacturing Com])any comes next, furnishing the power 
for their mill in East Glastonbury village, a short distance below. This 
mill is a substantial edifice of stone, and was built about 1840 by the 
Roaring Brook JIanufaeturing Company for the making of cotton and 
woollen goods, — that is, satinets. William C. Sparks was the agent 
until its dissolution in 18t32, when the mill passed into the hands of 
Edwin Crosby and Sereno Hubbard, and was operated by them during 
the war with great profit, having been considerably enlarged. After the 
death of Mr. Hubbard it passed to Edwin Crosby, thence to E. Crosby 
& Sons, and is now owned by the Crosby Manufacturing C()m])any. Aux- 
iliary steam-power has been put in, and with the latest and best machin- 
ery a very excellent quality of goods is made. The place has been 
greatly improved by the enterprise and public spirit of its |)roprietors, 
who are all residents in the village. A wise and i)rudent expenditure has 
produced its usual effect in promoting the prosperity not only of those 
who make it, but of the surrounding connnunity. Below is a mill for 
grinding feldspar and flint, which is not in use. Next comes the estal> 



218 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

lishmeut of the Roaring Brook Paper Manufacturing Company, occu- 
p.ying the site of the ancient mill which has been already mentioned. 
The family homestead of the Hon. John R. Buck is just to the south, 
on the turnpike and adjoining the Wassuc Green, with its venerable oak 
and trees of a younger growth. About a mile below the stream receives 
a noble affluent known as the " south branch," or Flat Brook. It begins 
in the rough and romantic region of Dark Hollow, associated with 
legends and weird stories of treasure, both buried and natural, which 
no human eye, according to tradition, has ever been permitted to see 
more than once. On or near the meadows on this stream was " Sadler's 
Ordinary," a noted house of public entertainment on the old road from 
Hartford to New London two hundred years ago. Nearly south of the 
old " gate-house," on this stream was formerly a manid'actory of fire- 
arms, occupying probably the site of an ancient mill, where the best of 
guns were made, but which, like their report, has become simply a 
memory. A glass-factory formerly stood near the turnpike north of 
this point, where the vestiges of Ijroken glass may still be found. By 
tlie time the brook reaches the main stream, increased by branches from 
Mott Hill and the northerly sides of rugged Meshomasic, it is nearly as 
large, and assists in forming a fine water-power for the mills below. 
The first is a large cotton-mill built by the Hartford Twine Company, 
since owned by the Wassuc Mills, and now in lease by the Wassuc 
ilanufacturing Company and owned by the brothers Plunkett, of Pitts- 
field and Manchester. This mill occupies the site of the Forge, built by 
Talcott Cam]j soon after the Revolution for the manufacture of bar-iron 
from the ore. He was succeeded in the iron business by Samuel and 
John Hunt, and by Robert Hunt and Henry Dayton, until the location 
was sold to the Hartford Twine Company. A short distance below is 
the village of Hopewell, where the large woollen-mill, with steam-power 
in aid, owned by Franklin Glazier, of Hartford, is situated. The pro- 
prietor keeps up with the times, and through the good and bad seasons 
lias run his mill with enterprise and ]n-ofit. This mill was established by 
Horatio HoUister and his sons more than fifty years ago. The anchor- 
factory comes next, operated now by George Pratt, with good help and 
his own clear head and strong arms producing articles for which the 
demand is constant and the pay good. He succeeds the Glastonbury 
Anchor Company, and Jedidiah and John H. Post. Below this place the 
stream breaks through the hills with a sharp descent into the lower 
grounds near its mouth at Nayaug. In this deep valley, shut in on either 
side by precipitous hills, is Cotton Hollow, for more than eighty years 
improved as the site of cotton-mills. It has been owned by many pro- 
prietors in succession, — the Hartford Manufacturing Com])any, John 
H. Post, Green Brothers, Glastonbury Manufacturing Company, and at 
present by Abraham Backer, of New York. Two large mills, one 
of brick and the other of stone (the interior of the latter having been 
burned out about forty years ago and since rebuilt), occupy the succes- 
sive benches of the ample fall, while steam is used as an auxiliary power. 
The water-power, formed by a heavy high stone dam and shut in by the 
high banks above, is one of the finest and best in the county. Prior 
to the Revolution, and until 1777, gunpowder was made here. An 
explosion occurring Aug. 23, 1777, caused the immediate death of 
George Stocking and his three sons, — George, Hezekiah, and Nathaniel, 



GLASTONBURY. 219 

— and of Isaac Treat : and of Tliomas Kimberly, Esq., prrnat prrandson 
of Eleazar Kiniliorly, on the following day. Bi'twccn tliis and llic -Main 
Street hridsrc was an ancient saw-mill, as also a saw and grist mill far- 
ther down, all of whicli have lieen disused. On the site of the latter is 
a large mill for grinding feldspar, which is used in the making of 
pottery and paints, now under control of the London White Lead and 
Color Company. The crude material was discovered a few years since 
to cxi.st in large quantities in a range of hills coming nortii from Port- 
land through the southern part of this town, and crops out at intervals 
for a numl)cr of miles. A large ijiuirry sold hy (leorge S. Andrews to 
the grantors of the company, situated in the rear of iiis house, is ijeing 
very extensively mined, ilr. Andrews has also other quarries, and a 
spar-mill just over tiie P()rtland line. The material is said to have a 
large commercial value. 

.'Subsequent to the location of the meeting-house as already men- 
tioned, and to tlic date of tlie act of incorporation, hut jirior to the first 
meeting of the peo]ile under its provisions and the naming of the town, 
Samuel .^mitli and .John iluhbard, hy a grant imder their hands, dated 
the 4t]i day of May, lii',12, " liaving a desire to promote the settlement 
of the public worship and ordinances of God among the inliabitants of 
Wetiierstiekl tliat are on the east side of the Great River, and to the 
intent that the said inhabitants . . . may hereafter possess and enjoy a 
suital>le anil ccmvenient piece of land for the erecting of a meeting-house 
upon, as also for a pultlic binTing-|)lace," conveyed to saitl inhabitants 
"a piece of land containing by estimation ten acres, ... to be twenty 
rods in breadtii from north to soutli, and fom-score rods in length from 
east to west." The stone bearing the oldest inscription is that of 
Eunice (daughter of John Chester, of Wethcrslield), wife of the Rev. 
Timothy Stevens, who died June 16, 1G98, in her thirty-first year. 
Generally the cemetery is well cared for, though nndoubtedly a careful 
prol)ing of the soil in the western and oklest part would reveal monu- 
ments not suspected liy many. As the erection of gravestones at an 
early day was not as common as now% the spaces apparently unoccupied 
have really l)een fully used. Here lie the ancestors of the old families, 

— the Hales, Hollisters, Kimberlys, Moseleys, Talcotts, Welleses, and 
many others, some of whose names have faded from this region. The 
yard was enlarged in 1867 by the purchase of two acres from Jfr. James 
R. Hunt, which has been carefully laid out, and already has quite a 
numl)er of elegant and expensive monuments. 

Tlie burying-place near the site of the old meeting-house in Bucking- 
ham was not used much if any before 174.5, as the first two ministers 
(pastois) of that society rest in the Green Cemetery. This cenaetery 
•is well fenced, and in the appearance of the ancient memorials bears 
the marks of honorable and zealous attention, creditable not only to 
the town, but to others more immediately interested. 

The cemetery located at Soutli Glastonl)ury. on the summit of the 
hill on the main street l)elow Roaring Brook, was purchased in 1776 of 
Samtiol Goodrich. It has l)een twice enlarged, and contains the dust 
of many of our worthiest and best citizens. 

The Wassue Cemetery was established in 1810, in connection with 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has since been enlarged. 



220 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

The cemetery (Centre) near the site of the old Episcopal Church 
was opened in 1823, and enlarged in 1858. 

The cemetery near the Congregational meeting-house at Bucking- 
ham was established about 1820, and enlarged to the south in 1865. 

The burial enclosure on the " Hill " has been used for about a 
hundred years as a place of sepulture for that neighborhood. 

Nipsic Cemetery was opened about 1845, and enlarged in 1884. 

The foregoing are all cared for liy the town, to its great honor. All 
are enclosed, and are yearly mowed and kept in order. 

The St. James Cemetery, laid out in 1859, is pleasantly located, east 
of the church of that name, and has many elegant monuments. 

The Hon. David E. Hubbard and his wife, Mrs. Pamelia (Hollister) 
Hubbard, are buried near their homestead. Besides this there are but 
two private yards, — one in East Glastonbury, on the Harmel Weir 
place, and one at South Glastonbury, near Lyman HoUister's resi- 
dence. 

The " main street " is a continuation of the " country road," which 
passes through and along the east side of the Connecticut valley. Tra- 
dition has it that it follows mainly the Indian trail. For but a short 
distance compared with the whole length of the route does it require 
causeways to avoid the ordinary river freshets. The General Assem- 
bly in May, 1676, granted power to the selectmen of the towns holding 
plantations on the east side to lay it out six rods wide. It was prob- 
ably located at an earlier day ; for in March, 1706-7, the selectmen, 
Samuel Hale, Sr., John Hubbard, and Joseph Hollister, surveyed said 
highway, not by courses and distances, but by evidently following the 
fences on the west side of an ancient way, but stipulating for the full 
width (six rods) east of the west line thereof. The landmarks — trees, 
etc. — are hardly now discoverable. A more careful survey was made 
in December, 1762, by Samuel Talcott, Ephraim Hubijard, John Kim- 
Ijerly, William Welles (surveyor), and Jonathan Hale, Jr., selectmen, 
in which the whole course of it is set out by metes and bounds. The 
" white oak tree by Gideon Hale's house," mentioned in that survey, is 
still standing in its venerable youth just north of the house of Mrs. 
Pamelia Hale, and is still growmg, common to us and our fathers. 
Other bounds referred to in that document can be definitely located 
along its west side. And what a street it is, — the pride of every resi- 
dent and the admiration of every visitor ! Fixed and laid out before 
the straight and rectangular ideas of highways had come in fashion, 
every position, as it winds along, gives new views ; while the noble 
trees, the growth of a century, authorized to be planted by the town 
before the Revolution, greatly add to their elegance. 

Glastonbury is left outside of railways. There have been hopes at • 
times for the construction of a horse-railroad from Hartford, long since 
chartered ; and the Connecticut Central was chartered from Springfield 
to Portland, but stopped short at East Hartford. The State consti- 
tutional amendment preventing towns from engaging in railroad-build- 
ing came just in time to prevent us from making investments town-wise. 
The ancient ferry called "Pratt's" has been long disused. An attempt 
to revive a ferry between Glastonbury and Wethersfield some forty 
years ago failed after a short trial. The ferry at Rocky Hill is well 



GLASTONBURY. 221 

patronized, especially' since the opening of the Connecticut Valley 
Railroad. 

Our general history has lint few salient points. Early it has refer- 
ence to matters of settlement . cliiirciics, and schools. The nnanimous 
call of the Rev. 'I'imotiiy 8tcvens (son of Timothy Stevens, of Roxbury, 
Mass.), a young man of twenty -si.\, as pastor ^. 
in 1(392, his acceptance thereof, and idcntifi- y ^_4. /^c.^ 
cation witli his ].eoplc in his family conncc- ^<'***<'^ ^OiH^^rui 

tions, and his growth in worldly prosperity « / 

along with them, seeming to have been a quiet, discreet, j)cacc-loving 
man. living, so far as any records show, in tlie kindest relations with 
all his jiarisliioners, until April 14, 172(1, when he died, liaving previ- 
ously buried his two wives, stirnving all his children by his first wife, 
and leaving but three • of the eight cliiidrcn borne to him by his second 
wife, Alice Cook, — all tliis is a quiet history, in marked contrast with 
the early annals of the mother town. Perhaps there were no other 
ministers resident iiere. 

Eleazar Kimberly (as has been mentioned), was town clerk from the 
^n /> ■ ^ /f organization of the town till 1708, when 

Ojt^ix^ a^ ,/\ii^*'yt o^^t^ he was followed by Samuel Smitli, one 

V- d—. ^^ of the donors of the Green. Mr. Smith 

had many peculiarities of ortliography and chirography, but he seems 
to have been assisted in the work of his records by his neighbor, the 
Rev. Timothy Stevens, who possessed a very characteristic handwriting, 
plain, but not very forceful. ,-* ^y ->, 

tie held the office until 1713, Stuttt^jtAitC ■^yt^.c^^ O^&oeSCe,-*^ 
when he was succeeded by c7 

Thomas Kimberly (surveyor), sou of Eleazar, who, in addition to this 

office, held by him 
until his decease in 
1730, represented 
this town in the 
X^^ / legislature nearly 

^ y^ every session from 

^^y^ 1708 to 1730, and 

-::::;^^^--^-_->^ ""^^ the last five vears 
was Speaker. His writing, after the lapse of nearly two hundred 
years, is as clear and correct as an engraved plate. 

The Rev. Ashbel Woodbridge, son of tlie Rev. Timothy Woodbridge, 
of Hartford, a young man _ * ^r~^ 

of twenty-four years, was // /P y ^ 9/r /'^ y i 

tlie second ordained min- "yi^/tyO . ^//{y-^ru /V^^T^^o 
ister. He remained as J^ 

pastor until his decease, ^ 

Aug. 6, 1755. " A man of eminent piety and distinguished worth, a 
ripe scholar, sound divine, and successful peacemaker." 

During the ministry of Mr. Woodbridge the society at the East 
Farms, or Eastbnry, was oi-ganized (1731), and after calling several 
clergymen finally secured the Rev. Chiliab Brainard as pastor in 173(>. 
He died dau. 1, 1739, in Ins tbirty-tirst year, after a tiiree years' ]ias- 
torate. llis successor was the Rev. Nchcmiah Brainard, settled January, 

' Timotliy, Joseph, and Benjamin Stevens. 




^K^h<.^^^AM/ 



222 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

1740, and died Nov. 9, 1742, in his thirty-second year.v Both these young 
men are buried in the Green Cemetery, side by side. The next to 
assume the duties of the pastorate was the Rev. Isaac Chalker, who was 
installed October, 1744, and died May 21, 1765, in his fifty-eighth year. 
Financial troubles almost crushed him, but the intervention of kind 
friends saved him from further annoyance, and he passed the evening 
of his life in quiet. 

Thomas Welles, son of Samuel, grandson of Samuel, and great- 
grandson of Thomas Welles, the third Governor of Connecticut Colony, 
was the successor of Thomas Kimberly as town clerk. He was a man 
of great ability, colonel of the militia, 
^vT^trO^o^ UeM^ representative in 1725 and nearly every 
*^ ' year succeeding, and tor the larger part 

of the time every session until 1751, Speaker for the last two years, 
and Assistant from October, 1751, to October, 1760. He retained 
the office of town clerk for thirty -six years, until 1766, when it is sadly 
apparent from his official signature in our records that his " right hand 
had lost its cunning." He died May 14, 1767, in his seventy-fifth year. 

The Rev. Ashbel Woodbridge's successor 
in the First Church was the Rev. John Eells, 
ordained pastor June 27, 1759, in his twenty- 
third year, and remaining here in his ofiice until his death, in 1791. He 
was a son of the Rev. Nathaniel Eells, of Stonington, and cousin of the 
Rev. James Eells, afterwards settled at Eastbury. Under his wise and 
prudent leadership no dissension seems to have arisen ; and the people 
were so united in patriotic sentiment that it is reported that only one 
left his country to become the associate of the Rev. Samuel Peters, for- 
merly rector of St. Peter's Church in Hebron, in the London colony 
of Tory malcontents headed by that bitter champion of kingly power. 

Soon after the decease of the Rev.. Mr. Chalker, the Rev. Samuel 
Woodbridge, a son of the Rev. Ashbel Woodbridge, was ordained pastor 
of the Second Society. Mr. Woodbridge was then a young man of 
twenty-six years. Unremitting study, in his case, produced insanity, and 
after preaching about a year he was dismissed, to the " great sorrow " 
of the church and society. He was succeeded by the Rev. James Eells, 
son of the Rev. Edward Eells, of Upper Middletown (now Cromwell), 
who was ordained Aug. 23, 1769, and remained with his people until 
his death, Jan. 23, 1805, aged sixty-three, and in the thirty-fifth year 
of his ministry. Prior to the pastorates of the Messrs. Eells the church 
records seem to have been I'egarded as private property, and no one has 
given any information where they or any part of them may be found. 
If ever they should come to light they would undoubtedly elucidate 
many points which only exist in the misty traditions of the past. 

The history of our town during the Revolution and the years imme- 
diately preceding is of the greatest interest, and is calculated to foster 
the respect and admiration which our citizens have for our fathers 
and our town. So early as June 18, 1770, a town-meeting was held at 
which measures were taken for the support of the non-importation agree- 
ment, and at which ]\Iessrs. Jonathan Welles (a son of Colonel Thomas 
Welles) and Ebenezcr Plummer (long time from 1747 a successful 
merchant in this town and a prominent and patriotic citizen) were 
appointed their representatives to attend a meeting of the mercantile 



GLASTONBURY. 223 

aud laudholdiiiii interests to be liolden at New Haven on the 13tli 
of the next SepteinlKT, to concert and prosecute " such plans and 
measures as are necessary for the defending of our just rights, our 
conuuim liberties, and peculiar privileues, which we (under (ioti) ha\e 
heretofore loui;- enjoyed." At the same time, " in order to carry into 
effect the measures proposed," a committee of three (Major Elizur 
Talcott, Jonathan Hale, Jr., and Ebenezer Plummer) were appointed 
" to inspect that there be no uoods imported into this town from New- 
York until the revenue acts are repealed." The records show com- 
parati\e quietness until June 23, 1774, on the reception of the news of 
the act of Parliament closing the port of Boston, when a meeting was 
held which passed a ringing series of votes, setting forth the opinion 
of that statute as " subversive of the rights and liberties of American 
citizens, unconstitutional, and oppressive;" and making common cause 
with the city of Boston and the Province of JIassacluisetts Bay in re- 
nistunce " to the designs of our enemies to enslave us ; " recommending 
the continuance of the non-importation agreement for that purpose. 
And they also expressed their approval of a General Congress as "the 
most probal)le method to cement the colonies in a firm zmiou, on which 
(under (iod) our only security depends." Colonel Klizur Talcott, 
William Welles, Captain Klisha Ilollister, Ebenezer Plummer, Isaac 
Moseley, Thomas Kimberly, and Josiali Hale were chosen a " com- 
mittee of correspondence to answer and receive all letters, and to pro- 
cure and forward such contributions as shall be made in this town for 
the relief of our distressed friends in Boston, and to transmit a copy of 
the proceedings of this meeting to the committee of correspondence at 
Boston as soon as yyossible." The letter, signed by these gentlemen 
and sent to Boston enclosing these proceedings, is to be found in 
Hr. Cha|)iu's " (ilastenbury Centennial, 1853" (page 94). Ebenezer 
Plummer was ]>robably its author. 

The intelligence of the affairs at Concord and Lexington reached 
here by express on the Sunday following, and was announced by the 
reverend aud ])atriotic cousins from their respective pul])its. The 
rest of the day was spent by the members of the militia in casting 
bullets, replenishing their cartridge-boxes, and repairing their firelocks. 
On .Monday moining a large company assembled at the house of Ca])- 
tain Elizur Hubbard, in Eastbury, and under his command started for 
Boston. During the Revolution the town's freipient votes making pro- 
vision for food and snp|)lies to the army and families of soldiers, recruit- 
ment of men by bounties and drafts, and providing guns for the soldiers, 
show that the general sense of the i)coi>le was fully enlisted in the work 
of achieving our national independence. Barracks for recruits are 
said to have been erected iu the meadows on land long since swept 
by the river. Tories l)anished from other towns for safe-keeping 
found place for repentance and reform among our patriotic eastern 
inhabitants, and breathed the air of freedom, under surveillance, among 
the rocks and hills of Eastbury. Tradition has it that at different 
times nearly every able-bodied man of the proper age was in the ser- 
vice, so that the crops were made and harvested by the women. Espe- 
cially so in the summer and autumn of 1776, when the scries of 
engagements took \)\acv which ended in the occupation of New York 
bv tlie British. 



„^ , — — ^. J 




224 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Tlie lists are not at present accessible which show the full number 
of our citizens who were in the army ; but we have the names of 151, 
which must be increased at least 50 per cent. 23 are mentioned as 
enlisted for three years, or during the war, — a number which the 
truth will largely increase, — and 31 as having been killed or died in 
the service. Many of those named in the account of Wethersiield's 
soldiei'S were inhabitants of Glastonbury. Colonel Howell Woodbridge 
(son of the Rev. Ashbel Woodbridge) was the highest ranking officer, 
and afterward, as then, one of our first men, representative from 1789 
to 1795 inclusive, and dying in his fifty-first year, in 1796. Colonel 
Elizur Talcott commanded a regiment which served in the early part 
of the Revolutionary War. Captain Elizur Hubbard survived to his 

eightv-second year, dying 
Sept.' 14, 1818. Captain 
Wait Goodrich, noted for 
his energetic bravery as 
well as being a man of 
affairs, is said to have been a privateersman. Captain Samuel Welles 
(son of Thaddeus Welles and nephew of Colonel Thomas Welles), as 
well as his son, Samuel Welles, Jr., were in the service during a 
portion of the time. 

William Welles, having succeeded his father as town clerk in 1766, 
retained that office until his death, April 19, 1778. His son William 
succeeded him, and held the 
office until Jidy, 1781, when he 

is said to have removed from /jf/ '/>/>' ' 'l/j/ /; 

town, and was followed by his /fj *-^V^ cvkIA— ^ ff aJ^-^-<^ 
brother-in4aw, Josiali Hale, son 

ot Benjamin Hale, who continued in that office until 1803. Mr. Hale 
resided in the south part of the town. His suc- 
/l/i^/yyx i/i^j^^ cessor was Colonel John Hale, from 1803 to 
y* ' ' 1817, the date of his decease. Jonathan Welles 

(son of Jonathan Welles, Esq., and his wife Katherine, a daughter of 
Roswell Saltonstall, eldest son of ^ 'j' r^y ^ 

Governor Gurdon Saltonstall, and }/^^^c>t^^ <::7'Cc<yCc 

grandson of Colonel Thomas ^'-'y 
Welles) was then chosen town ^^ 

clerk, holding the place till 1829. Mr. Welles is remembered by our 
^^p^ older citizens as a dignified gentleman 

(2^ /? ^n jO o^ *^^° '^^^ school, who recognized his 

//// y^ position and all tliat it implied. He 
lived in the ancient house on the east 
side of the main street on the summit 
r / of the hill just south of the Smith 

iy Brook, the site of which is now occu- 

])ied by Da\nd Brainard's house, and which was the residence of his 
father and grandfather. His uncle, William 

Welles, lived in the house now standing on the ^ryyi ^/^Zj^l^ 
opposite side of the street, where a portion of ^ 
Yale College was quartered during a part of the ^ 
Revohitiom Jonathan Welles, Sr!", had been a tutor in that institution 
from 1754 to 1756. Mr. Welles's son, the Hon. Henry Titus Welles, 






GLASTONBURY. 225 

after breaking in 1851 tlic chain of Democratic successes here for more 
than a generation, removed to Minnesota in 1854, after the deatli of iiis 
fatlier, and is one of the foremost men of that State. Another son 
of Jonatiian Welles, Sr., named tliirdon Welles, was a zealous preacher, 
— -a very •' IJoauergcs,"' — the sound of whose ministrations could often, 
as it is said, be heard a mile. 

The French spoliations in the latter part of the last and the beginning 
of the present century very seriously damaged our navigation interests. 

The War of 1812 called (piite a number of our people into the 
field for coast defence. Colonel (afterward Deacon) George Plummer 
was adjutant of the lirigade in service, 

and spent witli the whole or a part of /^^ ^^^^r 

the command "• nujre than si.xty days" v^"itf^'j^;t'«/c*«--»»-t-*«ce^ 
in " being ready " for a descent of the ^ 

British fleet and troops upon Xew London, whicli never occurred. 

The assembling, in 1818, of the convention forming a constitution in 
lieu of the charter of King Charles 11., and the movements prelimi- 
nary thereto, aroused great interest here. The careful and able man- 
agement of the Hon. Sanniel Welles, assisted by the Hon. David E. 
Hubbard, both men of great force of character and sterling good 
sense, resulted in the election of these gentlemen to the General 
^g Assembly in May, 1818, the calling 

^--^ r/ p ^ ~**Sy the convention, and their election 

^^ "' met Aug. 2b, 1818, and completed its 

work September 16th of the same 
year. On a sul)mission to the peo- 
ple it was approved by a very small majority. The influence of these 
men in their own town is ^~^^^ 

shown by the fact that while (\!TK ^ f/^ /^ 

Hartford County gave a \rJ.J CC-t^-o^^T G ^/C-<^^.^^ci-vcyC 
majority of 009 in the neg- 
ative, Glastonbury was one of the five towns out of eighteen in the county 
that gave a majority of yeas, — the vote standing 122 yeas to 57 nays. 

In the fall of 1829, following the advent of the Jacksonian era, 
^. the clerkship was placed 

OA-/ . , ^ yO^/^ ^^ M ill the hands of another 

/ li,.C<.^oL-cCJi.<^ <^/f^^ejUJ2^ branch of the AVelles 
family. Thaildeus Welles, a son of the lion. Samuel Welles, and 
brother of the Hon. (Jideon y^ ^^-—y. 

Welles, Secretary of tlie ""^j^ //O^ X^'^ 

Navy during the War ..f ^/'U^^^^l/TZ^ /<i'^'^^^^'^<:^7zS) 
the Rel)ellion, was chosen. C^^W-^f yy 

and retained that othce ^""""^W- w 6^ 

-, 7 /T (whh the e.Kception of 1840. when Henry 

v^«/>-«x-y /<(xyCi-^ Davton was ^j-j -.^ 

til 1848. rraray Hale havmg lu'lil r^ // 

the ollice two years, Benjamin Taylor ^ 

held it from 1850 to 1855, when Jlr. Welles held it for two years, 
followed bv Mr. Taylor in 1857 for one year, and succeeded bv Mr. 
^Vellcs in 1858. 

VOU II. — 15. 



226 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD CIOUNTY. 

Mr. Welles represented this town in 1836, 1837, 1845, 1847, and 
1848. He was nominated to the Senate by his party in 1839, 1840, and 
1844, and also in 1859, when he was elected, and chosen President pro 
tern. He held the office of justice of the peace, trying a large proportion 
of the cases in town for the more than forty years he was in the magis- 
tracy. He died Sept. 27, 1876, in his seventy-first year. He was a man 
of great ability, — a born leader of men, devoted to the interests of his 
native town ; one of those who, while they may have enemies, have the 
tact to make ardent friends. Known to every one, young and old, 
he was also acquainted with every one. By a pleasing address he dis- 
armed the prejudiced, and made even those who might at first look 
upon him askance, fully believe not only in his ability but his integrity. 
Emphatically a man of the people as well as a man of affairs, his coun- 
sel and assistance were constantly sought ; and iiis advice was not only 
freely given, but was " timely and good." 

The War of the Rebellion, which burst upon us in 1861, proved our 
citizens worthy of their ancestry. Vote after vote upon our records 
during the terrible four years of civil strife attests the devotion of this 
town to the life and welfare of the nation, and a resolution to secure 
by every pro})er means the perpetuity of the Union. During that war 
it furnished 10 three months' men, enlisting in April, 18G1 ; 318 men 
enlisting for three years, or during the war ; and 62 nine mouths' 
men. Reducing all to the standard of three years, equals 334 men. 
The commissioned officers were Robert G. Welles, captain in Tenth 
United States Infantry ; Charles H. Talcott and William W. Abbey, 
captains in Twenty-Fifth Connecticut Volunteers ; and Benjamin F. 
Turner, lieutenant in Twenty-Fifth Connecticut Volunteers. Doctors 
Henry C. Bunce, Sabin Stocking, and George A. Hurlburt were regimen- 
tal surgeons. In the navy, Samuel Welles was constructing engineer 
(killed at Mare Island Navy-yard, California, in 1866) ; R. Sommers 
was an ensign ; Charles M. Cooley, Henry P. Cooley, and George F. 
Goodrich were master's mates ; antl Horace Talcott (died in service in 
Kentucky) was paymaster. 

Until about 1840 the town and electors' meetings were held at the 
meeting-houses in different portions of the town, but mostly in the First 
Society. In March, 1837, the old meeting-house being about to be dis- 
used, a town-meeting was called to " appoint a committee to buy or build 
a town-house, or for taking such order respecting a town-house as may 
be thought proper." That meeting was held April 17, 1737, and at 
first voted to buy the (old) Episcopal church ; but the action was 
rescinded at the same meeting. Messrs. Jedidiah Post, Fraray Hale, 
Jr., David E. Hubbard, Parley Bidwell, Thaddeus Welles, Chauncey 
Andrews, and Abner Dickinson were then chosen a committee "to 
take the subject into consideration and report to a future meeting as to 
the expediency of buying a building for a town-house, or erecting one, 
and fixing a proper location." This committee, or a majority thereof, 
reported a resolution at an adjourned meeting held April 27, 1837, 
recommending to build a town-house on the " Green " north of the old 
meeting-house ; but the report was rejected. In January, 1838, 
another town-meeting was held, but rejected all the propositions sub- 
mitted to it, and dissolved. However, on the 29th of January, 1839, 



GLASTONBURY. 227 

the town antliorized the hnildiiiij; of the town-hull on the Green, and 
;ili|)r(>|iriatod >!:l,(;(io thrrcfor. The house was built in 1839 and 1840 
as well as possible with the limited appropriation, and the first meeting 
was held in it Oct. 5, 1840. 'l"hc eontroversy was e.\ceedin!<ly earnest 
and somewhat bitter, and called out a very large vote. I!ut we are 
to he congratulated, in tlie light of sueeeeding years, that the present 
location of our town-hall, notwithstanding the size of the town, is so 
convenient of access for our people l)y reason of converging highways ; 
especially when it is known tiiat a coni|)romise measure came very 
near being carried which would have placed the building at Buck's 
Corner, far from the centre of population, though very near the geo- 
graphical centre. 

The two hundredth anniversary of the authority given for a mili- 
tary company on the " east side " of the river, in Hartford and 
Wethersfield, which came around in 1853, was the occasion of a mag- 
nificent celebration, with a "feast of reason and flow of soul" on the 
old hi.storic Green. The Rev. Alonzo B. Chapin, D.D., rector of St. 
Luke's parish, prepared an address which was afterward expanded into 
a book called " Glastonbury for Two Ilnndred Years." The com- 
mittee of arrangements consisted of Messrs. John A. Hale, Thaddeus 
Welles, Jared G. Talcott, David E. Hnbbard, Charles Hollister, Edwin 
S. Treat, Henry Dayton,. /<iscph Wright, Sidney Smith, Andrew T. Hale, 
Walter B. \eau, Elisha Hollister, Henry T. Welles, (ieorge Plummer, 
and Leonard E. Hale. 

The ancient west line of this town as well as the east line of Weth- 
ersfield was the (Jreat River ; but, very singularly, the north line of 
Wethersfield |)rolonged east across the river does not correspond with 
the north line of this town, being about one hundred and twenty rods 
north of it. In the case of Bulkeley vs. Hollister, in 1684, the defen- 
dant claimed that the north line of the town sliould corres])ond with 
the Wethersfield line, which would have given him his claimed width 
at Nayaug. We have a suspicion that Gershom Bulkeley, like some of 
his successors, understood the manipulation of l(\irislative bodies better 
than Ilollister. and that tliougli tli(> fieneral Assemlily gave the case 
to the [ilaintilf, no injustice would have been done if they had decided 
in accordance with the claim of Holli.ster. The river, coming down 
through the meadows broadside on, makes in the lajjse of years great 
changes, and the boundary was early a subject of question between 
the two towns, though not until 1769 was there any attempt to estab- 
lish a line in distinction from the river. Thomas Welles, representing 
(ilastonbury in 17t);"), petitioned the General Assembly to establish the 
river by resolution as the boundary, without reference to its wear on 
either side. Upon this petition being ignored, the town of Wether.s- 
ficld in 1769 made its petition to re-establish as the line i)etween the 
towns as the river ran in 1692. This was supposed to be done in 
1770 by establishing a line beginning at a place called " Pewter-pot 
Brook's mouth," in the Keeney's Point meadow, running in a southerly 
direction to the branch of the river on the east side of Wright's Island 
and following to the main stream, and thence in the river to the south 
bounds of the towns. In 1792 Wright's Island was .set to Glastonbury, 
and at that ])oint, by the action of the towns, the river was ci)nceded to 
be the boundary. In 1870 Glastonbury petitioned the legislature for 



228 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

the establishment of the river as the line, and Wethersfield claimed 
the old line of 1692-1770. This controversy continued between the 
towns until in 1874 the Connecticut River, as it now flows or may 
hereafter run, was established as the boundary Ijctween the towns. 

The first post-office was established in the old Welles Tavern (now 
the residence of Charles Chapman) in 1806, and Jose|)h Welles was 
postmaster. He retained the position until 1832, when Benjamin 
Taylor was appointed, retaining office until 1862, when he retired. The 
office at South Glastonbury was established March 29, 1825, with 
George Mei'rick, Esq., as postmaster, who served until the 15th day of 
June, 1829, when he was succeeded by Oliver Braiuard, who continued 
in office until his death, in 1861.^ Offices have since been established, 
at Naubuc in 1856, East Glastonbury in 1863, and Buckingham in 1867. 

Pi'ior to 1806 the mail for diffei'ent 
, ^ towns was taken from designated 
'^'SJ^ '^■^^'c&^}-yC'0^t^ post-offices by post-riders and by 
^ them delivered. The Rev. Jeremiah 

Stocking in his early manhood was a post-rider from Hartford to Say- 
brook. He began in 1799, delivering tlie newspapers, and carrying the 
mail from 1801, and continued in the business twenty-five years, in 
which time he travelled 150,000 miles, and crossed the Connecticut 
8,500 times. 

The Hon. Sidney Dean, member of Congress from the Third District 
of Connecticut in 1855 and 1857, lived in the south part of Glastonbury 
during all the early part of his life. Some of his family still reside in 
the town. 

The Hon. John R. Buck, member of Congress from the First Dis- 
trict of Connecticut in 1881 and 1885, is a native of Glastonbury. 

The migratory character of our town-clerk's office, due to frequent 
changes in the incumbent, resulted, in 1881, in the erection of a Town 
Records Building on Welles Corner for that and the other town offices, 
with a large fire-proof vault for safely keejjing the records. 




1 At this time Judge Merrick was in the mercantile as well as the law business. He was 
a descendant of the Tiev. Noah Merrick, of Wilbraham, Mass., and his wife, Abigail Fisk, 
widow of the Rev. C'hiliab Brainard, first pastor at Eastbury. Judge Merrick was born at 
Wilbraham, Feb. 1, 1793, being the son of Dr. Samuel F. Me"rrick ; read law wuth the Hon. 
Sylvester Gilbert, of Hebron, and the Hon. Hnnt Mills, of Northampton, Mass.; was admit- 
ted to the bar in ISl.'j, and continued in practice in South Glastonbury until his death, Oct. 
6, 1879. He married for his first wife Nancy, daughter of Roswell Hollister and his wife 
Elizabeth, by whom he had two sons, — George Hollister, who died before his father, and 
Roswell E . Merrick, who survives him . Mrs. Nancy Merrick having deceased, Judge Mer- 
rick married Miss Betsey Ann, daughter of Thomas and Betsey Ann (Welles) Hubbard, and 
sister of the Hon. John W. Hubbard, who survives him. He was a true gentleman, always 
affable, a safe and prudent coun.sL-llor, and a good lawyer. He was a magistrate for the whole 
term of his life here until attaining the constitutional limit of age, judge of the county court 
for many years, and seiTed in the legislature of 1866 with marked credit and success. 



XIV. 
GRANBY. 

BY WILLIAM SCOVILLE CASE. 

ALTHOUOH Oranbv has existed as an independent townsliij) only 
since 178(i, the history proper of the tract enclosed in its present 
limits antedates that period by considerably more than a century. 
A hasty resumr'oi the history prior to the final separation from Simsbury 
is necessary for a complete and satisfactory undcn'standinir of the later 
chronicles. The town, as incorporated in October, 1786, comprised an 
area of about fifty-nine miles, with an average length of nine and one 
half miles, and a breadth of about six miles. Still later, in 1858, this 
territory was in turn divided, — about one third of the eastern part of 
the town going to form the jtresent township of East Granliy, which 
includes the famous Newgate Prison. The location of Granby cannot 
perhaps be better described than by saying that it lies adjacent to and 
directly south of the irregular notch in the Slassachusetts and Connecti- 
cut boundary line. It consists of a hilly and irregular district, like 
most of the towns which mal<e up the northern and northwestern por- 
tions of the State. Its lowlands are traversed by the waters of two large 
brooks, with their several tril)utaries, which, coming from nearly oppo- 
site directions, meet near the southeastern boundary of the town, and 
together flow on to the crooked Farniington River about three miles 
distant. The soil is generally sandy, although the well-watered lowlands 
arc as fertile as those of the adjacent towns. Farming is the prevailing 
occupation of the people, the distance from good water-power, as well 
as from railroad conveniences, rendering the place undesirable for 
manufactnring purposes. Copper in quantities too small to warrant 
the expense of mining is an indigenous product, and traces of iron 
liave likewise been found in sufficient c|uantities to arouse the enthu- 
siasm of enterpi'ising jicoplc ; l)ut CJranby mining ventures, of what- 
ever description, have so far [)roved most dismal failures to all who have 
embarked in them. Although nothing definite is known concerning 
the earliest period of the town's history, yet there is good reason for 
supposing that the first house in the town .stood at the Falls, — now 
in East Granby, and a little less than a mile north of the village of 
Tariffville. Tliis was occu])ied by John Griffin as early as 1664, and 
he may with reasonable certainty be called the first settler. He held 
the first Indian deed, given by JIanahanoose on account of the Indians 
having set fire to some of his tar, which he manufactured in considera- 
ble quantities.' The next settlers in the town located at Salmon Brook, 

* Sic liistor)' of Sinisburj". 



230 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Granby proper, and the first house there stood near the present resi- 
dence of Mr. Dennison Case. Daniel Hays, of Indian fame, lived, about 
1720, in a house which stood " below the hill," and near the present 
home of Mr. Joseph Sanford. It is also generally supposed that a 
block-house was erected still farther south, immediately in the rear of 
the house lately occupied by Mr. Charles Pettibone, where the settlers 
flocked in times of danger, and when in fear of any outbreak from the 
savage proprietors of the country. 

Little by little the wildness of the country took on a more civilized 
air. First of all it was necessary that there should be roads. Means 
of communication must be had with neighbors, and with the adjoining 
towns. As in all early settlements in new countries, these roads were 
at first simply footpaths. One of the first public highways was a road 
from Barn-door Hills, in the western part of the town, to Wilcox's mill, 
which was located neai- the ])resent site of the New Haven and Northamp- 
ton Railroad dejjot. Another road ran from near the residence of Mr. 
Dennison Case to the same mill, and still another lay between Barn-door 
Hills and the house now occupied by Mr. Orlando Smith. These high- 
ways were of the most ]irimitive sort, and were consti-uctcd only as the 
strict necessities of the occasion required. Fear of the Indians, which 
is the one omnipresent and unquestioned factor in all our colonial 
history, seems to have been present at this period among the settlers, 
and, unfortunately, with excellent reason. Frequent attacks and mur- 
derous outbreaks kept these unfortunate pioneers in a perpetual state 
of alarm ; and their energies at this time seem rather to have been 
devoted to measures of personal safety than to matters of public interest 
and improvement. 

In the early days of the settlement the Indians were never slow to 
take advantage of its weak state, and many acts of depredation and 
malicious deviltry took place. The most noteworthy of these was 
probably the capture of Daniel Hays,' an early settler, alluded to 
before. Hays, as has been stated, lived at Salmon Brook. At that time 
a young man of twenty -two or twenty-three years, he was captured on his 
way to the pasture in search of his horse. The three Indians who had 
thus lain in wait for him immediately bound their captive and stai'ted 
for the north. A general alarm was soon spread among the settlers, 
and a party made up of men from his own town and the neighboring 
town of Windsor was soon scouring the woods in search of the savages. 
All their efforts were vain, however, and in the mean time the captive 
was hurried on to Canada, treated with all manner of insults and in- 
dignities. After a journey of nearly thirty days he was brought to a 
great Indian encampment on the Canada border. Here he was com- 
pelled to " run the gauntlet," which terrible ordeal he was fortunate 
enough to pass through alive, and was at length by unusual good 
fortune adopted into an Indian family. After a lapse of several years 
he was sold to a Frenchman at Montreal, who took pity on him and 
allowed him the privilege of purchasing his own freedom after a service 
of some years. He returned to his family after an absence of about 
seven years, and lived from that time in an uninterrupted course of 
peace and happiness. He died in 1756, and was buried in the cemetery 

1 The narrative here given is taken, in its essential details, from the excellent account 
given by Mr. Phelps in his " History of Simsbury, Granby, and Canton." 



GIIANIBY. 231 

at Salmon Brook, where his grave may yet be seen, markorl liy one of 
tho ciiriou.s little red freestone slal)s of that peiiod. 

The work of settlement and popidation was very slow and diseoui- 
ajiing. Kceonls show that as lati; as ITOU there were only ek'ven fami- 
lies settled within the present lionndaiies of the town. It has been 
affirmed that frequent Indian ontl)reaks kept the place entirely deserted 
for considerable periods of time. As the town grew in nnndjcrs and 
strength, however, apprehension of dangers from tlicse sources gradu- 
ally disappeared, and the pojiulation seems to have increased with con- 
siderable rapidity, as in 1786 two ecclesiastical societies were established, 
called respectively the Northeast and Northwest societies. It nuist i)e 
remembered that all jiublic measures ]irior to 1781) were carried out only 
with the approval of the town of Simsbury, of which the settlements at 
tlie Falls and at Salmon Brook and Turkey Hills were a jiart. The 
" meetings" of the Northwest or Salmon Brook Society were held for a 
time in the house of Daniel Hays, which was also used as a tavern ; 
but in 1739 a meeting of this society was convened to adopt measures 
for building a meeting-house. Local feeling was strong, and the 
General Assembly was at length referred to, in order to settle disputes 
and decide upt)n a location tor the new building. This august body 
appointed a committee, in accordance with whose report the site finally 
adojjted was upon Seminary Hill, at Salmon Brook. This result of out- 
side arbitration seems to have by no means put an end to internal dis- 
sensions, however ; for in 1775 the building was taken down and rebuilt 
on a spot designated by another committee of arbitration, some two miles 
north of its first location. This in turn was taken down, and another 
building erected in 1884, which is still standing, and is occupied by the 
First Society. 

In these earliest years of the Northwest Society the congregation did 
not feel able to support a minister, and the " meetings " were con- 
ducted by the " brethren " alternately, with an occasional sermon from 
some ordained minister whenever it was practicable to secure such a 
rara avin for one or more Sundays. This state of affairs lasted for fif- 
teen or sixteen years, until the little parish had so grown in lunnerical 
and financial strength that the church-goers felt warranted in keeping 
a shepherd of their own. 

The first settled minister of the original Northwest Society was the 
Rev. Joseph Strong, ordained 1752 and dismissed 1779. Mr. Strong 
probably organized the church. He " used Watts' Psalms, and cate- 
chized the children," receiving as comj)ensation for liis ministerial 
labors a salary of £50, his fire-wood, and the use of the parsonage, 
which stood on the site of the old Jewctt place, now owned by the 
lion. T. M. Maltbie. The magnificent elms which are now standing 
at this place were probably set out by Mr. Strong. Before his dis- 
missal some trouble arose in regard to his salary, owing ti) the de])recia- 
tion of currency during the war. He removed to Williamsburg, Mass., 
and remained there engaged in his labors until his death. 

The Rev. Israel Holly succeeded him in the parish, in October, 1784, 
remaining until 1793, when he in turn gave way to the Rev. Isaac 
Porter, who was ordained in June, 1794, and remained in the pastorate 
for more than thirty-eight years. Mr. Porter experienced many difli- 
culties during his long ministry. It would seem, from ajipearances. 



232 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

that he was a strict disciplinarian, and ruled his congregation with a 
rod of iron. Members were disciplined for al)senting themselves from 
church services, and much dissatisfaction followed. At last Simeon 
Hok'omb brought specific charges against the church, criticising the 
manner in which the sacrament was administered, complaining that 
the pastor had not been ordained and was not supported " in the Gospel 
way," and avowing that the church was imjjure and C(jrrupt in many of 
its members. After Mr. Porter's dismissal he lost his property, and 
became dependent for his support upon the generosity of individuals ; 
the church, be it said to her shame, withholding her aid, in spite of his 
long and faithful pastorate. His successor, the Rev. Charles Bentley, 
was pastor from 1833 to 1889. Mr. Bentley consented to settle in 
Granby only on condition that a new church be erected ; and the present 
edifice was completed early in his pastorate. 

The next pastor was the Rev. Chauncey D. Rice, who served in that 
capacity from 1839 to 1841. A new parsonage was built for Mr. Rice, 
adjoining the present church building. The Rev. Israel P. Warren was 
his successor. He was ordained in 1842. Mr. Warren was considered 
rather " liberal" in his theology, and, after the manner of his kind, his 
pastorate was marked by contests between himself and the more con- 
servative element. He afterward removed to Boston, and rose to con- 
siderable eminence in his profession. After his dismissal the pulpit 
was filled for some time by " supplies," and not until 1855 was the 
next regular minister ordained. This was the Rev. William Gilbert, 
who remained in charge until 1863. The Rev. Thomas D. Murphy 
(Yale, 1863) was ordained in 1866, tlie Rev. Dr. Leonard Bacon, of 
New Haven, preaching tlie ordinatioir sermon. Mr. Murphy was pas- 
tor of the church until 1871. Shortly after the organization of the 
South Church at Salmon Brook in 1872 Mr. Murphy became its pastor, 
and remained as siich until 1880. The Eev. William Hammond suc- 
ceeded him in the pastorate of the First Church, and remained two 
years. Mr. Hammond was followed by the Rev. James B. Cleaveland, 
the jjresent pastor. At the South Church the pulpit was filled, after 
Mr. Murphy's dismissal, by the Rev. George W. Griffith, at that time a 
student in the Yale Theological Seminary. Upon his graduation 
(1881) Mr. Griffith became the pastor of the church, remaining in that 
position one year. He was succeeded by the Rev. W. D. McFarland, 
who left at the expiration of a year's service to accept a position upon 
the staff of " The Gospel in All Lands," a religious paper published at 
Baltimore. Prom the time of Mr. McFarland's dismissal the church 
has had no settled pastor. 

The Northeast, or, as it came to be called, the Turkey Hills Society 
is described in the history of East Granby. 

An Episcopal church was begun in 1792, although not finished 
until 1800, and stood many years on the site of the present building of 
the Library Association. From the small number of Ei)iscopalians, the 
parish was always weak in its finances, and never able to support a 
minister of its own. The pul])it was usually supplied by combining 
with the people of St. Andrew's Parish in Bloomfield, all together hiring 
a rector who should do the duties incumbent upon him for botli par- 
ishes. The church was closed about forty years ago, but to this day 
traces of its influence are occasionally observed. A movement has 



GRANBY. 233 

been started quite recently to reorf^anizc the E|)isco])alians of the town, 
with a view to testing the advisability of ajrain holding services in the 
]ilaee. 

The Methodists erected their present church building in West 
Granby in 1845, and the society is now in a comfortably flourishing 
condition. There is also a society of Universalists possessing a sub- 
stantial little church located in North (Iranby, some few hundred rods 
above the old North Church of the Congregationalists. They are 
prosperous and independent enough to erajdoy their own minister, and 
their numerical strength, although confined almost exclusively to the 
northern sectit)n of the town, is considerable. 

The organization of tlie South Church, alluded to before, took place 
in 1872, when a division occurred, and the peojjle of Salmon Brook 
and immediate vicinity, who formed a considerable portion of the con- 
gregation, dissatisfied at having to ride two miles over a poor road to 
get the benefits of public worship, seceded from the mother church 
and organized themselves into the South Congregational Society. They 
iiave never built a church, l)ut have held services in the building of the 
txranby Library Ass(jciation, a connnodious two-storied structure, which 
was erected about tiie time of the formation of the new society, and 
admirably answers the purposes of a church. 

We have spoken of the early ecclesiastical history of the town, and 
it is proper in this connection to add a few words regarding the early 
educational history. But little is known definitely concerning the first 
schools, and wc must pass rii[)idly from the time when the early settlers 
built their first school-house near Salmon Brook, to the jwriod, a cen- 
tury or more later, when something more systematic was undertaken. 
In 1874 the entire public-school system of the town was improved 
and remodelled. The number of scholars in each district was as 
follows : In district No. 1, 111 ; No. 2, 34 ; No. 3, 18 ; No. 4, G4 ; No. 
5, 17 ; No. 6, 45 ; No. 8, 16 ; No. 9, 30 ; No. 10, 27 ; No. 11, 10. Total, 
372. It was at this time that the modern high-school methods were 
adopted by the board tor tin; examination of teachers. The standard 
then set has been rigidly adhered to, and has resulted most satisfactorily. 
A l)etter (|ualified and more competent body of teachers has been the 
result sought for and attained. For the year 1884 the cost of main- 
taining the schools of the town amounted to •'i<2,or)4.94, of which 
$625.50 came from the school fund and $296.12 from the town de- 
posit fund, leaving •'11,452.89 to be assessed by ta.xation. At present 
the town ranks fifty-second among the towns of the State, in school 
attendance according to enumeration, which for the eleven districts is 
now 264, a decrease of 108 in eleven years. 

Private schools of more or less importance have at various periods 
had a brief existence within the town. A school of considerable note 
once stood near the present site of the soldiers" monument, at Salmon 
Brook Street. This was discontinued more than half a century ago. 
The library building at Salmon Brook was occupied for a number of 
years by the Rev. ilr. Murjihy, who, with an assistant, taught the 
various branches of the classics, for collegiate prejiaration, and kept a 
school of the first order. At Mr. Murjjhy's departure this school was 
closed. 



234 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

We have alluded before to a " block-house " which stood, at the 
earliest period of the iii.storv of the settlement, in Salmon Brook Street. 
An elaborate ma]) of Simsbury, made about 1730, located another and 
more important fortification about a mile north of the " street," and 
near the Southwick road. This was known as Shaw's Fort. It is 
supposed to have been erected in 1708, and was probably of the most 
primitive style of architecture, — a rough block-house, protected by the 
con\entional ditches and palisades. In these early days of the settle- 
ment no military organization was attempted ; and it is probable that 
this fort was used only on occasions of unusual Indian outbreaks, when 
the settlers Hocked to it en masse. At this time there were but fifty- 
eight houses in the entire tract which afterward Ijecame Grauby, and 
they were scattered over several miles of territory. Nevertheless, we 
must date the military history of the town from this period ; and it is 
not surprising, when we consider the rough training which these people 
had in their early struggles with savage foes, to find them in after 
years playing so important a part in the most serious wars which 
afflicted the country. In the French war of 1756 Simsbury furnished 
a comjiany in which several Granby men served, and in 1762 a comjjany 
of forty-seven men, rmder the command of Captain Noah Humjihrey, 
formed part of the disastrous expedition to Havana under General 
Lyman. Fourteen members of this company came from the Granby 
part of Simsbury. Only two of them returned from Havana. Their 
names were Andrew Hillyer and Dudley Hays. The sufferings of the 
men who took part in this foolhardy expedition were extreme. Sickness 
and shipwreck, — every form of disaster, in fact, seemed to be present. 

In the War of the Revolution the record of the town was one in 
which we may well take pride. A'olunteers to the cause of freedom 
came forward from every section, and in the attack on Fort Ticonderoga, 
in 1775, Granby men were present as members of Captain Phelps's 
com])any. It was during this war that the usefulness of Newgate was 
made apparent, and the place was fitted up and transformed into a 
prison for Tories and English prisoners. It proved its admirable 
fitness for the purpose, as a letter from General Washington still bears 
evidence,^ and did much good service in the cause of the patriots. After 
Burgoyne's surrender, detachments of his captured army were sent 
through to Hartford, and a peaceful little meadow, only a few hundred 
yards from the spot where the original block-house stood, is still 
]3ointed out as the camping-gromid of a company of Hessians who 
])assed through the place as prisoners of war. Men from this town 
participated in nearly every battle of importance during the entire 
Revolutionary War ; and the writer treasures a curious old razor, with 
its wooden case, which jiassed through the untold hardships of Valley 
Forge as the property of Sergeant Seth Hayes. 

The part which Granby played in the second war with Great Britain 
and the Mexican War is lost to us, although there were doubtless natives 
of the town who enlisted in each of these struggles. No companies 
were formed from this place exclusively. After the latter war, and 
during the period of " militia " excitement, there was much interest 
manifested in military matters, and many of the older citizens remember, 
with a thrill of the same old patriotic ardor that fired them then, 

1 See the liistorical sketch of East Granby, p. 80. 



GRANBY. 235 

the " general training day." Tliis was an occasion of extraordinary 
interest to the dwellers in the rural districts, who flocked in great ninn- 
bcrs to the village which had been jircviously selected as tlie gathciing- 
ground of the volunteer companies for miles around. Granhy was often 
selected for this houdr, and the broad "street" seems to have been 
especially adapted for the warlike manteuvres which characterized such 
gala-days. In the War of the Rebellion the town furnished her full 
(juota of men. 

Everett Griswold joined the .service April 19, 1861, and was proba- 
bly the first Granby man to enlist, although his example was quickly 
followed by seventeen more enlistments in May. Twenty more men 
were enrolled in the service before the end of the year. The number 
of enlistments during the following year was thirty-eight, and in 1863 
and 1804, nineteen. Of these men, the greater part enlisted as privates, 
and never rose above the positions of minor ofhccrs, though there was 
at least one brilliant exception in the person of Colonel Richard E. Hol- 
comb, wlio rose rapidly by promotion and was finally put in command 
of the 1st Louisiana, the first white Union regiment from that .State. 
He was killed at the battle of Port Hudson, June 14th, 18G3, while at 
the head of his men and urging them on. Colonel Holcomb was a 
man of great bravery and detciininafion, and his brilliant record as 
a soldier gave promise of a bright future. 

Since the exciting events of the Civil War little has occurred to dis- 
turb the tranquil sleepiness of the staid old town. With the memory 
of their dead heroes fresh in their minds, the people of the town imme- 
diately after the war voted to erect a soldiers' monmnent. Voluntary 
contributions were forthcoming, and in a short ])eriod the amount recpii- 
sitc for a handsome memorial was ])Icdged. Then came the inevitable 
wrangle over the location of the jiroposed monmnent. Every section 
of the town came forward with its own particular claims to recogni- 
tion. There were apparently insurmountable objections to its erection 
in one place, and unanswerable reasons for its being located in another 
place, and vice versa. The upshot of the whole affair was the dedica- 
tion, July 4, 1868, of the handsome brown stone monument which 
stands at the northern end of Salmon Brook .'^treet. 

In 1786 the town was incorporated, with Judah Holcomb, Jr., as the 
first town clerk. Colonel Ozias Pettibone and Colonel Pliny Hillyer 
were the first representatives to the State legislature. Until 171*4 the 
town was allowed but one representative in the legislature. In that 
year, and thereafter, two were sent, and the two gentlemen who first 
went together were the men who had up to that time alternated in 
representing the town, — Messrs. Pettibone and Hillyer. 

In 1858 the town was subdivided, East Granl)y forming itself into 
an independent town, as Granby had done before. During the cam- 
paign of 1840 political excitement in Granby ran very high, and a sjjot 
near Stony Hill is still recollected In" many people as the site of the log 
cabin of the Harrison and Tyler men. 

The Granby Water Company was incor])orated in 1868, with Dr. 
Jairus Case as president. Water is brought from Bissell's Brook, and is 
siq)plied at ])re.sent to almost every house-owner in the vicinity. A vi.s- 
ionary sclieme to constrnet a railroad from Granby to Tariffville, distant 



236 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

some four miles, also upset the minds of the villagers a few years ago. 
After going to the trouble of securing a charter from the legislature, 
the upholders of the scheme decided it to be impracticable, and it was 
abandoned. 

In December, 1876, the place was visited by a disastrous fire which 
destroyed the principal hotel, the store of Loomis Brothers, together 
with the post-office, and the adjoining buildings. A high wind was 
blowing at the time, and a general conflagration was apprehended. 
This, hoAvever, was happily averted. The burned buildings have not 
been rebuilt. 

In 1882 disputes arose between Granby and Suffield regarding the 
town boundaries upon Manatic Mountain. The trouble was referred 
to a committee of three persons appointed by the Superior Court, 
who decided the matter in favor of this town, after a personal examina- 
tion of the disputed territory and a full review of the evidence. 

In manufacturing, the town has never held a prominent place. West 
Granby has acquired some note as a centre for cider-brandy distilleries, 
and there was, at one time, a brass foundry, on the present site of For- 
syth's grist-mill. 

Pegville, one of the small villages of the town, derived its name 
from quite an extensive shoe industry once located there ; and a build- 
ing was erected at Salmon Brook a few years ago for the purpose of 
manufacturmg toy pistols and other " notions " of like character. 
The jjlace was subsequently occupied by another company for the 
manufacture of knife-handles ; but it has been unoccupied for a con- 
siderable period. In politics, Granby has been variable. At present 
the town is very strongly Republican, giving a Republican majority of 
between forty and fifty on a total vote of about ^hrce hundred. The 
town is in the Third Senatorial District, and has been re]iresented in 
the State Senate by Edmund Holcomb, Republican, in 1866, Dr. Jairus 
Case, Democrat, in 1868, and Theodore M. Maltbie, Republican, in 
1884. William C. Case, Republican member from the town, was 
Speaker of the Connecticut House in 1881. 

The population of the town is decreasing. Every census shows 
a loss of some scores, and the " Ricardian acre " is only too common 
a sight on the hillsides and among the mountains in the northern and 
least settled portions of the town. The census of 1870 gave Granby 
a population of 1,517, and that of 1880 reduced the number to 1,310. 



XV. 
HARTLAND. 

FROJI NOTES BY LESTER TAYLOR. 

HARTIjAXD is lioiimlod north In Massachusetts, east hv Oranbv, 
soutli by Barkhamstod, west by (,'olebrook. It is about seven miles 
east and west and about live miles north and south, containing 
thirty-four s(|uare miles. This township was part of " those lands on 
tlie north of Woodbury and Mattatock and on the west of Farmington 
and Simsbury," etc., granted by the (Jeneral Court, January, 1(587, to 
the towns of Hartford and Windsor, " to make a jilantation or villages 
thereon." This grant, with others made at the same session, was in- 
tended to put the vacant lands west of Conn(>ctieut River beyond the 
reach of Sir Edmond Andros or other governor a])pointed by the Crown. 
" The expedient was, in its immediate results, effectual ; but at a later 
period this grant was the occasion of a long and angry controver.sy 
between the towns and the Colony." ^ The controver.sy was settled in 
172G by an agreement that tlie tract covered by the grant should be 
divided, and that one half of it .should be confirmed to Hartford and 
Windsor. By deeds of partition executed by these towns in IIS'I, '' four 
parcels of land lying within said large tract was set out to the ]iatentees 
of the town of Hartford ; " and by an act of the General Assembly in 
May, 1733, one of these parcels, " called the Northeast Part, containing 
by estimation seventeen thousand six hundred and fifty-four acres," was 
named Hartlaud, — a name easily derived from '• Hartford lanil." The 
first proprietors' meeting was held in Hartford, July 10, 1733. 

Tlie surface of the townsliip is broken by a double range of hills 
north and south, and through it flow the east and west branches of 
Farmington River. The east branch rises in Norris Pond, near Tolland 
Centre, Mass. ; the west liranch in Nichols Pond, in Becket, Mass. 
The town is liberally supplied with unfailing springs, and cold, clear 
streams that (low ea.st and west. Hartlaud Pond covers about eighty 
acres in the northwest part of the town. The soil is a gravelly loam, 
except in the alluvial deposits of the valleys. Here and there coarse 
granite crops out on the bills. The climate is cool, with a dry, bracing 
atmosphere. The natural woods are maple, beech, birch, ash, chestnut, 
cherry, and hemlock. 

Tliere is no evidence of any permanent settlement of Indians within 
till! town, though arrow-heads and otiicr implements found in the val- 
l(>ys show that they hunted here. The first white settler was John 
Kendall, who came from Graiiby and built his cabin iu the south valley, 

' See TniiiilniU's "History of Connecticut," vol. ii. pp. 'J5-i)'J ; and "Colony Ricmils, " 
vol iii. p. 225, note. 



238 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

east of where the old Bates house stands, now owned by Leonard Dick- 
inson. His twin daughters were the first white children born in the 
town. He moved away in about a year, and the first permanent settler 
was Thomas Giddings, who came from Lyme, June 12, 1754. He made 
his home on the land so long owned by the late Willis Wright, in the 
southeast part of the town. Simon Baxter ^ came ne.xt. Joshua Gid- 
dings, brother of the first settler, came in 1756 from Lyme and located 
in the east parish, south of the centre, on the farm now owned by 
H. Searlcs. Joshua Giddings had three sons, John, Joshua, and Ben- 
jamin. John was the first wliite male child born in Hartland. Joshua, 
the second son, left Hartland for Pennsylvania, where, soon after, his 
son Joshua R. Giddings, the famous Abolitionist, was born. The third 
son, Benjamin, was the father of the Rev. Salmon Giddings, who in 
1817 organized the first Protestant church in St. Louis and was installed 
over it. 

Moses Cowdrey came from East Haddam in 1756, and after several 
changes finally settled in the northeast district in the east parish. He 
left three sons, Asa, Ambrose, and Moses. In 1760 Jonas Wilder and 
Consider Tiffany, also of East Haddam, settled on the West Mountain, 
and Thomas Beman, of Simsbury, made his home in East Hartland. 
Daniel Ensign, of Hartford, came in 1761. By that time the place had 
thirtj'-seven families, numbering two hundred and twelve persons. Uriel 
Holmes, another of the East Haddam people, arrived and built his 
house at the southeast corner of the green at the centre of East Hart- 
land. It stands now, the oldest house in town. Colonel Holmes was 
a prominent citizen, and represented the town in thirty-six sessions of 
the legislature. Other early settlers were Josiah and Stephen Bushnell, 
from Saybrook, Phineas Kingsbury and Nehemiah Andrews, and a 
number of young men from East Hartford, among them Reuben Burn- 
ham, whose wife, Chloe Fitch, was a sister of the inventor of the first 
steamboat. 

The first doctor in the town was Dr. Jeremiah Emmons, who came 
from East Haddam and settled in East Hartland. In 1775 Uriah Hyde, 
from Windsor, l)uilt the first blacksmith's shop in West Hartland, 
though before this, Jchiel Meacham had worked at the trade in East 
Hartland. The first tavern in the west parish was kept by Eldad Shep- 
herd, who came from Hartford in 1770. About 1780 two brothers, 
Caleb and Timothy Olmsted, came from East Hartford to West Hart- 
land. Timothy Olmsted was considered the most popular teacher and 
composer of church music in Connecticut at that time. He published 
a work of church music, " The Musical Olio," containing many original 
tunes, such as London, Vernon, etc., long familiar to lovers of church 
music. 

The town was incorporated in May, 1761. The first town-meeting 
was held at Simon Baxter's house, July 14, 1761. Joshua Giddings 
was chosen moderator, and Joseph Gilbert town clerk. Until 1795 
Hartland belonged to Litchfield County ; in that year it was annexed 
to Hartford County. This was an important event to the people, for 
many of them were from Hartford, and from the beginning the chief 

1 He enlisted in tlie British army, and died in Halifax. 



HARTLAND. 239 

business interests of the place had been connected witii Hartford. 'J'lie 
population at different dates has been: 1T5G, 12; 1774, oOO; 1810, 
1,284; 1880, li47. 

March 1, 1775, at a town-meeting- it was 

" Voted, Tliat the town will hear read what the Coutiuental Congress did 
in their Associatiou, — this meeting being sensible that the liberty of every 
freeborn American is most atrociously invaded, and having duly considered 
how the Association of the Continental Congress is most happily concerted to 
relieve our fears, to recover and preserve uninjured our iuvadetl rights and 
privileges — we lieartily approve of and acquiesce iu it, and will to our utmost 
faithfully adhere to and observe the same, and acknowledge to our worthy dele- 
gates who attended that Congi-ess, that we have a most grateful sense of the 
service they luive done us and our country in the wise and noble resolutions 
they adopted." 

The list of Revolutionary soldiers from the town is not preserved; 
but there was no lack of patriotism. In 177(J a tax was levied to laiv 
stockings and clothing and tents for the Continental Army, and in 1781 
it was voted by the town to keep their (piota in the army full. 

Ilartlaiid lor many years belonged to the Simslniry probate district. 
In 1807 Ihulland and (iranby were made a district; and in 1836 
Hartlaud itself was made a district, with Phelps Humphrey for its first 
judge. 

The first church in Hartland was organized May 1, 1768; but as 
early as 1761 the Rev. Ashbel Pitkin was employed to preach and hold 
services in private houses. The Rev. George Colton succeeded him. 
The first pastor of the church was the Rev. Sterling Graves, who was 
ordained June 2!', 1768, at an open-air service a mile south of the pres- 
ent church. He was given seventy- ^U. — - ^_ 
five acres of land and <£100 as a <yc^l^^uyr.(^ /^^^.jj*-'*'''^ 
settlement ; and his salary, begin- y ^ 

ning at ,£3o, was to rise gradually ^ 

to i;7o, two thirds ])ayable in wheat, pork, beef, etc., at the stated rate. 
He died in 1772, and the next year the Rev. Aaron Church was made 
pastor. He served till his death, in 182;3, and was a man held in the 
highest regard. He was made a delegate to the convention that adojjtcd 
the new constitution of 1818. Other pastors of the first parish have 
been the Rev's Ami Lindsley, Aaron Gates, J. C. Houghton. Xelson 
Scott, David Beales, John B. Doolittlc, Lyman Warner, Nathaniel 
Bouney, Merrick Knight. 

Because of the deep valley through the middle of the town, a division 
between east and west seemed desirable and nattn-al : and. on petition, 
a committee was appointed for the purpose by the General Assembly. 
They were Colonel Seth Smith, of New Hartford, Daniel liumi)lirey, Esq., 
of Simsbury, and Colonel Nathaniel Terry, of Enfield. They made the 
west parish include the South Hollow west of the river as far north 
as Sanmel Bassett's, now S. P. Banning's. The second church was thus 
organized in 1780. In 1782 the Rev. Nathaniel Gaylord, of "Windsor, 
was ordained to a successful pastorate which lasted until 1841. He 
was a graduate of Yale, first in his class. Since then the pastors have 



240 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

been the Rev's Adolphus Ferry, John A. Hempstead, Luke Wood, 
Charles Grosvenor Goddard, Rodney L. Tabor, RoUa G. Bugbce, Fred- 
erick A. Balcom. 

The interference, or rather the regulation, of the town in society 
matters in early days is illustrated by such votes as these, recorded in 
1776: — 

" Voted, To sing the last singing ou the Sabbath or Lord's day, without 
reading." 

Also 

"Voted, Lieut. Eleazer Ensign and Mr. Joseph Wilder assist in reading the 
Psahn ou the Lord's Day and other public meetings." 

A Methodist " class " was organized in the west parish during the 
early part of this century, holding its meetings in private houses. The 
church building was not put up until 1833. The first meeting-house of 
the first ecclesiastical society was built in 1764, by vote of the town. 
It was used imtil 1801, when the present building was put up, and it 
was remodelled in 1875 at considerable expense, so that it is now as 
attractive a church as is often found in rural New England. The bury- 
ing-ground, near by, was laid out in 1765 by Joshua Giddings and Jason 
Millard, selectmen. The meeting-house in the West, or Second, Society 
was erected in 1775, a very large, substantial structure. Its steeple 
was put on in 1837, with a bell presented by Mr. Stephen Goodyear. 
In 1844 a new church building was put up on this site, and dedicated in 
June, 1845. 

The first post-office was located at East Hartland ; the second in 
West Hartland in 1827. First there was a weekly mail from West 
Hartland by Barkhamsted, North Canton, Simsbury, to Hartford. In 
1850 this was made a semi-weekly service. In 1879 a daily mail was 
established between New Hartford and West Hartland, and Hartland 
Centre (the Hollow) was also made a post-office. It has four mails a 
week. The others have theirs daily. 

In 1782, the custom was established of holding town-meetings alter- 
nately in East and West Hartland. This held until 1860. In 1859 
the town voted to build its own town-hall at the Hollow, near the geo- 
graphical centre ; Jonathan A. Miller gave the land for the site, and 
other citizens contributed liberally. The first meeting was held in it 
in October, 1860. 

Hartland was not allowed representatives in the General Assembly 
until October, 1776, when Phineas Kingsbury and John Wilder were 
admitted. 

Among natives of Hartland there should be mentioned a number 
whose names have come to be well known elsewhere. 

The Rev. Selah B. Treat, D.D., was born in Hartland, Feb. 19, 
1804. He was the only son of Selah and Anna (Williams) Treat. He 
received the advantages of a good academic education, and entered 
Yale College at the age of sixteen, graduating in the class of 1824. 
Subsequently he studied law, practised in East Windsor, and Penn 
Yan, New York. His prospects in the profession were full of promise. 



nARTLAND. 241 

but he gave up the law find entered the Andover Tlieolofrical Semi- 
nary to prepare foi- the ministry. He graduated in 183o. lie was soon 
settled over a churcli in Newark, New Jersey, where he remained four 
3-cars. Subsequently he lieeame Secretary of the American Board of 
Commissioners for Foreiffu Missions, holding that olhcc for many years. 
He died in Boston, Alareli 2S, 1877, aged seventy-three years. 

.)udg(\s Horace and Eli T. Wilder, sons of Colonel Eli Wilder, went 
from Hartland to Paincsville, Ohio. The former graduated at Yale, in 
1823, and both became lawyers and judges. Horace Wilder was six 
years judge of the Common Pleas Court and for a time judge of the 
Supreme Court of Ohio. Subsequently they left Ohio and made their 
homes in Redwing, Jlinnesota. 

.ludgc Lester Taylor, of Claridon, Ohio, was born in West Hartland, 
in the latter part of the last century, and settled in Ohio when twenty 
years old. He was elected county judge in 184(1, and in 18o') he was 
chosen to the State senate by the counties of Geauga, Ashtabula, and 
Lake, and the senate chose him for its presiding officer. He had also 
been a member of the lower house of the Ohio legislature. 

Samuel Edwards Woodbridge was born in Plartland in 1788, son of 
the I?ov. Samuel and Elizabeth Woodbridsre, who were originally from 
Hartford. He 

was supenn- fTO'^^^.a,^.^ 
tendent of n^ 

schools in his y^ 

native town, /y y///ly''^l^/ / « /^ 

school which 
acquired con- 
siderable pop- 
ularity. In 1834 he took charge of a large school on Long Island for 
neglected children, which had about eight hundred inmates. Leaving 
there, he established a school for boys at Perth Amboy, which proved 
very successful. Pic died in 1865. 

The principal industry of Hartland has been agriculture, the soil 
being especially adapted to grass and grazing jnirposes. Formerly a 
great deal of cheese was made in the town. Of recent years butter- 
making has taken its place. Cattle-raising is quite extensively carried 
on, and in the fields there are grown the cereals and tobacco. 

In manufacturing, Hartland has had the usual run of grist-mills, 
saw-mills, and fulling-mills, and licsides these, wagon-shops, tanneries, 
a print-factory, and a jiajicr-mill. Uriel Holmes built the first saw 
and grist mill in the North Hollow on the east branch of the Farm- 
ington. In 1777 Stephen Bushnell l)uilt a grist-mill on Mill Brook, 
and also a saw-mill. There was another saw-mill higher up thi" same 
brook. Samuel E Woodbridge in 1818 built the saw-mill now owned 
by Watson E. French. S. Rulterts has a saw-mill on the East Mountain. 
These and ]iortable steam-mills have largely reduced the amount of 
timl)er. Most of the mills have gone to decay. Thomas Fuller, and 
afterward his son Luther, bad a fulling and clothiers' mill in the Noi-th 
Hollow. Thomas Sugden had a tannery in East Hartland, and Peodate 



x5^ 



242 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

I. Ensign had one in West Hartland, which his sons carried on for many 
years. 

Wagon-making was begun in 1824, in East Hartland, by Ezekiel 
Alderrnan, from Granby. He was succeeded by Uri Holcomb, and he 
by Lester H. Gaines, in 1840 Elias E. Oilman began the same business 
in West Hartland, but went to Winsted in 1854. His brother Samuel 
carried on the manufactory till his death, in 1869. 

In 1836 John Ward and his sons, James and Michael, from Adams, 
Mass., built large print-works on the west branch of the Farmington, 
near the Barkhamsted line. They made from two hundred thousand 
to three hundred thousand dollars worth of goods a year, but in 1857 
the firm dissolved. Little was done with the property until 1874, when 
the sons of Michael Ward began there the manufacture of paper. 
They are making about two tons of fine manila paper a day. 



XVI. 



MANCHESTER. 

BY THE REV. S. W. UOUBINS, 
Pastor of the First Congregatiomd Church. 

MANCHESTER is one of tlic four towns whoso territory was origi- 
nally included in the town of Hartford. It was incorporated 
in 1823, antl its separate history is comparatively i)ricf ; yet it 
claims its iniieritance in the historic treasures of the ancient town, in 
the wisdom and valor of the early settlers whose bequest to posterity 
renders illustrious the record of two hundred antl llfty years. Though 
the Earl of Warwick gave to the Connecticut Company the entire do- 
main from Xarragansctt Bay to the Paeilic Ocean, prudence and equity 
required the conlirmation of the title by the original possessors of the 
land ; the good-will of Chief .Joshua Ijcing even more essential to a 
peaceful settlement than the favor of King Charles. The first pur- 
chase made after tlie arrival of the Rev. Tliomas Hooker and his com- 
pany from Newtown, .Mass., comi)rised a tract extending six miles west 
of the river and tiiree miles cast of it, bounded north by the Windsor 
settlement and south by Wetherslield. The tract west of the river 
was divided into two sections each three miles wide, east and west. 
The plantations east of the river were known as the Three-mile Lots, 
and were supposed to extend as far cast as the Hillstown road, in 
Manchester. 

The land lying east of the Tiiree-mile Lots was known as the Com- 
mons, autl belonged to and formi'd a part of the hunting-grounds of 
Joshua, sachem of the western Xiantic Indians, who was the third son 
of Uncas, sachem of the Mohegan hulians. About the year 1G75 or 
1G76 Joshua scjld to JIajor Talcott of Hartford, for the use and behoof 
of the town of Hartford, a tract of this common land extending from 
the aforesaid Three-mile Lots five miles still farther east the whole width 
of the town of Hartford, and bounded east by other land claimed by 
Joshua, which now constitutes the town of Bolton ; l)ul the conveyance 
was not made till after Joshua's death, which occurred in .May, 1G76. 
The Governor and Council, or General Court, nevertheless claimed and 
exercised authority over this land under and by virtue of the charter 
of King Charles 11., and in 1()72 had passed an order extending the 
boundaries of Hartford five miles farther ea.st, for the encouragement 
of i)lanters to plant there, covering tiic same ground afterward sold 
to Major Talcott by Joshua. In 1082, after Joshua's death. Captain 
James Fitch, of N^orwich, and Thomas Buckingham, of Saybrook, 
administrators on the estate of said Joshua, sachem, conveyed the 



244 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

same by deed to Mr. Siborn (Cyprian) Nichols, Sergeant Caleb Stanley, 
and John Marsh, selectmen of the town of Hartford ; and from that 
time onward till 1772 it was known as the Five Miles. 

By the act of incorporation the western boundary of the town of 
Manchester was placed half a mile west of the west line of the 
Five Miles. The town therefore included, in addition to the Five 
Miles, a section, half a mile wide, of the original Three-mile Lots. In 
1842 a portion of East Windsor, comprising an area of nearly two 
square miles, and including Oakland district, was annexed to this 
town, making its present area about twenty-eight square miles, bounded 
north by South Windsor, east by Bolton and Vernon, south by Glaston- 
bury, and west by East Hartford. The face of the country east of 
Connecticut River for a considerable distance is generally level, rising 
into broken uplands in the northern part. Near the ceuti-e of the town 
of Alanchester the land gradually rises into a moderately elevated 
plain, along which extends the broad avenue which is the continuation 
of the old " country road " from East Hartford Street, beginning at the 
corner near the mouth of the Hockanum River. This plain gradually 
terminates on the east in the high range of hills which, sweeping 
round to the southwest, encloses the extensive valley that forms the 
southeast part of the town. 

The Hockanum River, the outlet of Snipsic Lake, in Vernon, flows 
through the entire northern portion of the town, receiving as chief 
tributaries Hop Brook and Bigelow Brook. In the vicinity of, these 
streams the manufactories are located. The chief centres of business 
and population are North Manchester and South Manchester. Other 
settlements are Manchester Green, Lydallville. Parker Village, Oak- 
land, Buckland, Hilliardville, and the Highlands. 

The first settlers of the Five Miles located in the -western part, in 
the vicinity of Hop Brook. ^ Here, as early as 1711, Thomas Olcott 
was appointed to keep a house of entertainment, which stood just 
across the road from the residence of the late Sidney Olcott. Subse- 
quently a tavern owned by John Olcott was kept on the corner, a few 
rods farther south. Tradition tells of the great droves of cattle which 
in the early days passed this point on the way to market, and of 
numerous emigrants from Rhode Island making the journey to the 
Western Reserve, which was the westernmost point that anybody then 
sought. 

The first general division of lands in the Five Miles occurred in 1731, 
when the proprietors appointed a committee to lay out three miles and 

' Prior to any general division, lands in this section were, in some instances, assigned by 
the General Court to individuals for meritorious services rendered to the colony. For exam- 
ple ; in 1666 the General Court ordered that four men and horses be speedily sent to Spring- 
field to accompany such as should be sent by Captain Pyuchon to Fort Albany or farther, as 
should be judged meet to " atteine certeine understandinge concerninge y= motion of y^ 
French." Corporal John Gilbert was one of the men sent. For this service the General 
Court in 1669 granted liim two hundred acres of land, whereof twenty acres might be 
meadow. In October, 1672, the Court appointed James Steele and Nathaniel Willett to lay 
out to Corporal John Gilbert his grant, and they, in March, 1673, laid out to him two hundred 
acres on the east side of tlie Great Eiver, about two miles eastwardly from Jlr. Crow's saw- 
mill, upon a brook called Hop Brook. Tliis land came into the possession of Joseph and 
Thomas Gilbert, sons of Corporal John Gilbert ; and in 1707 one hundred acres of it were 
deeded to Thomas Olcott, Jr., by Joseph Gilbert as administrator of Thomas Gilbert's estate. 
This land, or a portion of it, has remained in the Olcott family one hundred and seventy-five 
years. 



MANCHESTER. 



245 



one liuudred rods ou the cast side, next to Bolton, the whole width of 
the town of Hartford, to be divided to the oriyinal proprietors or their 
heirs, aecortling to their rate as it stood reeorded on the town-hooJi, 
including necessary ways. The same year this connnittee laid out four 
strips or tiers of this land, each tier being two hundred and forty rods 
wide, running north and sonth, parallel with Bolton town line from 







THJS CHENEY HOMESTEAD, SOUTH MA2CCILESTEK. 



Windsor to Glastonbury. Each of these tiers was divided among the 
proi)rietors in projxntion to their rates, by parallel east and west lines, 
reserving a strip thirty rods wide for a highway between tlie first and 
second tiers, also a forty-rod highway between the second and third 
tiers, and a thirty-rod highway between the third and fourth tiers. Of 
these fonr highways running north and south, the first passed about half 
a mile cast of the Green. The road running north from Oak Grove 
mill over Academy Hill to the Bryant place corresponds nearly to the 
western line of the ^-j,^ ^ ^^ "- 



main street from -^ 

North Manchester to South Manchester indicates the place of the third, 
which separated the third and fourth tiers of land. The balance of the 

una])propriated five-mile tract, lying 
/> » « y » iH'tween the Three-mile Lots on the 

^J^l Oifc ^i/mf— "'^'■'^* '^"'' ^''^ ^»\w\\\ tier of lots in 
^'^ l/t-^A/'t — |],j> former division on the east, re- 

mained common and undivided till 
1753, when it was distributed among the pro|)rietors and their repre- 
sentatives by Mr. Samuel Wells, Xathaniel Olcott, and Josiah Oleott, a 



246 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUXTY. 




l^e^U^ 




^^^ 




committee appointed to distribute said lands and lay out suitable roads 
thereon.i 

The years between 1731 and 1753 witnessed the gradual occupation 
of the lands assigned in the tirst division. Many names in the list 

of the early settlers of 
Hartford designate families 
whose residence for several 
generations has been within 
the limits of the live-mile 
purchase. On the north 
side of the street, extending 
east from the Centre, a hun- 
dred years ago were the farms and residences of the brothers, Timothy, 
Benjamin, and Silas Cheney. On the south side of the same street, 
also west of the north and south 
highway, tracts of land were owned 
by Richard Pitkin. Near his resi- 
dence, a mile east of the Centre, was 

the chief ])lace of business at the 
time of the Revolution. The set- 
tlement contained a store, a tav- 
ern, a blacksmith's shop, a pottery, 
^ and a glass-factory. 

In 1783 William Pitkin, Elisha Pitkin, and Samuel Bishop were 
granted the sole privilege of making glass in the Stiite for twenty-five 
years. The glass-factory was an object 
of curious interest to many who resorted 
hither to witness the process of manu- 
facture. Its ruins still remain, — the 
vine-clad walls and graceful arches of the old stone structure being an 
attractive subject for tlie artist's pencil. Some years later the business 
centre was at the Green, now the oldest village in the town. The 
store had a large trade, much of it from the country lying to the east. 

The post-office 
was estab- 
lished here in 
1808.2 The 
growth of the 
village was 

promoted by the opening, about 1794, of the Boston and Hartford 
Turnpike, running directly west from this point midway between the 

1 For the account of the division of the land, also of the purchase of the same, as pre- 
viously noted, see the Historical Address delivered by Deacon E. R. Dimock at the one 
hundredth anniversary of the First Church of Chiist in Manchester, which has been pub- 
lished in pamphlet form. 

2 Wells Woodbridge, the first postmaster, held the office twenty-six years. The post- 
office bore the name of Orford Parish till the 
town was incorporated, when the name was 
changed to Manchester. At Oakland the post- 
office was established in 1841. It was removed 
to Union Village in 1850, taking the name 
of Manchester Station, which was afterward 
changed to North Manchester. At Buckland, previously called Buckland's Corners, the post- 
office was established in 1840 ; at South Manchester, in 1831. 





^^^i^^^;^^^^ 




MANCHESTER. 249 

north road ^ and that by the (Vntrc. This was an important route for 
the staiic-lincs from Boston and I'rovidcucc to New York. The ])iiblic- 
hoiisc kei)t by Deodat Wootlbi-idue, and afterward by hi.s son Dudley 
Woodbritljio, was a notable stopiiing-piace for numerous travellers, iu- 
cludiuii' juduvs, 
statesmen, and ^ — y t 

othcials. Ihis // 

point was iu /^ 

the direct 

course from Hartford to Lebanon, the headquarters of military opera- 
tions for the State and the home of Governor Trumbull, — Washinirton's 
" Brother Jonathan." The people here, therefore, had the opportunity 
of seeing men noted in the country's history, especially durino; tlie 
period of the Revolution. A daughter of the proprietor of the hotel 
was accustomed to relate, as an interesting incident of her childhood, 
that she gave a glass of water to General Washington at his request, 
and received his thanks for the favor. The hotel building, now and 
for many years used for a private residence, is kept in excellent 
condition, and is a j)leasant memorial of the past. It needs only the 
hanging out of the old sign to recall the bygone time wiien the fie- 
quent stage arrivals not only brought welcome guests but summoned 
from the neighborhood eager inquirers for tidings of great affairs going 
on in the world. Few stop now to think what grave questions of 
national and local interest were here discussed with the practical 
wisdom anil common sense which characterized the men of that time. 
This village, known as '■ Tlie Green," — after the fa.shion of naming the 
villages in the former days, — has not shared the growth of some other 
parts of the town since the convenience of water-power and railroad 
transportation has given the advantage to other localities. It, how- 
ever, still retains the aspect of thrift, and for a place of residence 
its healthful atmosphere and the commanding views from its graceful 
slopes are a permanent attraction. A single stage-line does good ser- 
vice connecting the old post-ollice with the trains on the Xew York and 
New England Railroad at the Manchester station, a mile away. 

Manufacturing enterprise had an early beginning lint a limited devel- 
opment in this section as compax-ed with others. Timothy Cheney, as 

well as his brother 
Benjamin, was nota- 
ble as one of tlio lirst 
clock-makersin New 
England. In those 
days the usual time- 
piece was the noon-mark on the kitchen floor, and clocks were rare 
and costly. Those made by Timothy Cheney and his brother had tall 
carved cheiTy-wood cases and wooden works, some of which, after 

' The north roail was known in tlie older time as the Tolland Turnpike, which also had 
its lines of stafjes. One of the lines by the Oreen turned at that point, proceeding to Hartford 
on tlie Tolland Turnpike by Binklniid's Corners, where for many years in the early part of 
the century a tavern was kept. This was the lallying-iioint for the )ieople of this ivpion to 
pay honor to General Lafayette when on bis way to Hartford during hia visit to the United 
States in 1S21. 





^(iZ^T^^^y) <&^^^/7«^ 



250 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

the lapse of a century, are still keeping good time. In their workshop 
John Fitch, wliose invention of the steamboat antedates that of Fulton, 
was an apprentice and received his first lessons in mechanics. Subse- 
quently Richard Pitkin started a cotton-mill, which went into operation 
only a few years after that at Union Village.^ Still later, Benjamin 
Lyman was a manufacturer of ploughs, carts, and wagons. He was the 
first in the State to manufacture cast-iron ploughs in place of those hav- 
ing the old wooden share and mould-board, and he was the inventor of 
the iron hub, which went into extensive use in drays and other wheel- 
vehicles. The excellence of the ploughs and wheels now in use is due 
in no small degree to the merit of these inventions. Mr. Lyman was 
also the first in this region to manufacture light one-horse wagons, — 
light for those days, — whereby the good wives of that time were saved 
the necessity of going on foot or choosing between the ox-cart and the 
pillion. Marvin Cone, also, during his long life was engaged in a simi- 
lar line of manufacture. The carriages and wagons from his factory 
were in extensive demand for their finish and durability. To this 
business the present firm — Cone & Wadsworth — succeeded. In 1851 
a stockinet-mill was erected by the Pacific Manufacturing Company. 
In 1861 this company was succeeded by the Seamless Hosiery Com- 
pany, — Keeney & Colt. The mill was burned, a new one was built, 
and the business conducted by C. G. & M. Keeney. Addison L. Clark 
became associated with the Keeney Brothers in 1871, and since 1877 
has been the sole owner and manager of the mill, now called the Man- 
chester Knitting Mill. 

Early manufacturing enterprises on the Hockanum River created 
the settlement called Union Village. Near the present paper-mill of 
the Keeney & Wood Manufacturing Company was built the first paper- 
mill in Connecticut, with one exception.'-^ The news of the battle of 
Lexington was printed in the " Connecticut Courant " on paper made at 
this mill, then owned by Ebenezer Watson and Austin Ledyard.^ In 
1778 the mill was burned by an incendiary,* and the legal representa- 
tives of Watson & Ledyard brought their memorial to the General 
Assembly, stating their loss to be !i«20,000, and claiming that this mill 
had supplied the press of Hartford with eight thousand sheets weekly, 
and had made a great part of the writing-paper used in this State, 
besides large quantities for the Continental army and its officers. 
Permission was granted to hold a lottery to raise the sum of $7,500. 
In 1784, on a site a little farther west, Butler & Hudson erected 
a mill which afterward came into the control of John Butler. Of 

1 Richard Pitkin, who started this cotton-mill, was a son of the Captain Richard, of the 
Revolution, mentioned elsewhere in this article. He followed his father into the army, a 
mere lad acting as teamster. In 1818 he was one of the delegates to the Convention which 
fonned the present State Constitution. He was the father of the late Deacon Horace Pitkin, 
of Manchester. 

2 In 1769 Christopher LefBngwell, of Norwich, was allowed a premium of 2d. a quire for 
the manufacture of letter-iiaper, and Id. for printing-paper. 

^ The d(.'ed of the land and privilege was given to Watson, who, to secure it from his 
creditors, made it wholly over to Ledyard. After Watson's decease the administrators applied 
to the General Assembly for a committee to adjust their accounts, and liberty to grant a deed 
of one half to Watson's heirs. The committee reported that there "is due Ledyard on the ex- 
piration of the partnership, Jan. 30, 1779, £171, 17s. 3hd.," and that on settlement a deed of 
release of one half should be given to Watson. 

* Fire has always been the persistent foe of the paper-mills. Not less than thirteen have 
been burned liere during the last forty years. 




MANCHESTER. 251 

this mill Timothy Kccncy, father of Timothy Kcency of the present 
coinjinuy, was foreman. After Mr. Butler's death Increase Clapp, Tim- 
otliv Keoney, James B. Wood, and Sandford Buckland, who a short 
time before (in 1838) had formed a partnership under the name of 
Clnpp. Keencv, <t Co.. pnrchased ^.^ » 

the mill property of John Butler's /^J^^.^^ /U4/Pt^ 
estate. Ihis firm was the first to ' -"^"^ / / 

nsc paper shavinsis in the mannfac- € 

tnrc of paper. These shavings, which before had l)een taken from the 

book-binderies in New 
York to the beach and 
burned, were bonght at 
a very low jirice and 
converted into paper at 
a great profit. On the 
death of Mr. Clapp this partnership was dissolved, and in 1850 it was 
succeeded by tlie Ivceney A- Wood Manufacturing Company. 

In 1704 the first cotton-mill put into successful operation in Con- 
necticut was built in Union Village. Of this mill Samuel Pitkin was 
the ])rincipal owner. John Warburton the chief designer and operator. 
The machinery was made under his supervision, and would be con- 
sidered at this day a jirodigy of clumsiness. Sometime previous to 
this undertaking Mr. Warburton brought from England some valuable 
secrets a!)out cotton-s])inning which were of great service to the enter- 
prise Tradition says that he brought important designs concealed in 
a false bottom of his trunk. The spinning of cotton was a success ; and 
peo])lo came from afar to see the wonderful machine capable of mak- 
ing the fabulous amount of twelve pounds of good yarn in a single day. 
At first the yarn was put out to lie woven by hand-looms in the fami- 
lies of the neighborliootl; afterward ]iower-looms were introduced and 
cloth was made in the mill. In 1819 David AVatkinson and brothers, 
of Hartford, having purchased this mill witii a tract of land adjoining, 
erected a large stone mill, and a com|)any was incorporated under the 
name of the Union Miinufacturing Company. In 1854 this company 
erected a fine brick mill, which is operated in connection with the 
stone mill. 

At (Xakland, in 1832, Henry Hudson, of Hartford, piirchased of 
Jose])li Loomis the privilege already occupied by a saw-mill and grist- 
mill. These he converted into a jiaper-mill. In 1842 the propcrtv 
was deeded to his son, ilolancthon Hudson, and in 1844 a second mill 
was erected. The Hudson paper-mills were managed by the Iludsons 
for thirty years, Molancthon Hudson being succeeded by his sons, 
William and Philip W. Subsequently the Ciieney Brothers came into 
possession of the property, rebuilt and enlarged the old null, juitting 
into it the best modern macliinei-y, imin-oved the dwelliug-houscs, and 
adorned and beautified the grounds, making Oakland an attractive 
village. In former years the Hudson j)ai>er-mill filled large orders 
for the United States Government. In 1878 the jiroperty was sold 
to the Hurlburt Manufacturing Comiiany, which has since been re- 
organized undtr the n;imc of the Oakland Pa|)er Comjiany. Between 
Oakland and Union Village, in 1831, William Jones started a silk- 
mill, which was used afterward for the manufacture of satinet, and 




252 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

still later was sold to G. H. Childs, who has converted it into a grist- 
mill. 

Within the present limits of Parker Village a settlement was started 
in 1808 by John Mather, who built a small glass-factory and powder- 
mill. It required, it is said, twelve men to operate these establish- 
ments ; and Mather was regarded the aristocrat of the region, on ac- 
count of his ability to give 
yy ^ orders to such a multitude. 

^r'^Pt^t^ ^''"^^^^^^^x^^ '^'^^ powder was made by 

using hand - mortars for 
working the materials. Two 
kegs of twenty-five pounds 
each were the daily product of the mill. Wlien fifty kegs were pro- 
duced, they were loaded into the team-wagon and started on the old 
turnpike for Boston, to be sold for part cash and part New England 
rum. In the old time the latter article was deemed an important 
force in building and running the mills. Some veteran manufacturers 
remember their apprentice days, when one item of their duty was to go 
to the store at eleven o'clock for the supply necessary for " dinnering 
the men." In 1830 Mr. Mather sold this property to Hazard, Loomis, 
& Brothers, then the powder monopolists of New England, who built 
a new powder-mill and introduced new methods of manufacturing. 
They also bought of Daniel W. Griswold another small powder-mill on 
the same stream, nearer Union Village. The latter privilege was sold, 
in 1840, to Keeney, IMarshall, & Co., who erected thereon a paper-mill, 
which was burned a few years later, and then a new mill was built, 
now owned by White, Keeney, & Co. The Mather privilege, sold also 
in 1840 by the Powder Company, was bought by Lucius Parker <fc Co., 
who erected a cotton-warp mill, which is still in operation. Nearly 
all the powder-mills have had tiieir destructive explosions. The last 
occurred in 1834, in the mills above mentioned, resulting in the death 
of six men.i 

In 1850 the Pacific Manufacturing Company bought of Daniel Lyman 
a privilege three quarters of a mile east of Parker Village, and erected 
a mill to be used in connection with their mill at the Green. This mill 
was burned, and the privilege was subsequently purchased by Lydall 
and Foulds, who have a paper-mill and needle-factory here, and also a 
paper-mill at Parker Village. 

In Buckland the first paper-mill was erected in 1780 by Richard L. 
Jones, who already had in the vicinity a powder-mill and an oil-mill, 
used afterward as a grist-mill, and later as a wire-factory. During 
the succeeding forty years the property passed to various owners, 
among whom were Josepli Chamberlain, who held it in 1825, Colonel 
Henry Champion, of Colchester, Samuel C. Maxon, and William Debit, 
by whom it was sold in 1836 to George, Henry, and Edward Goodwin. 
Subsequently it came into the possession of the National Exchange 
Bank of Hartford, and was sold, Oct. 15, 18G8, to Peter Adams, who 
has expended a large sum in rebuilding and providing the best manu- 

1 The rpcord of deaths kept by the pastor of the First Churoh gives the names of these 
persons, and adds: " All but Birins were killed instantly, and most of their bodies were shock- 
ingly mangled. A leg of Avery was carried about thirty rods against the roof of a bam with 
such violence as to break a hole through." 




^7^ ^S^^<^ 



MANCHESTER. 253 

facturing facilities. Tlic mill is devoted chiefly to tlic making of writing- 
paper, and is said to be one of the largest in tiie country. 

A siioit distance southwest of the Adams mill Aaron Buckland, in 
1780, huilt a woollen-mill, in which he manui'actured jilain cloth, woven 
by iiand-iooms. Mr. IJucklaud sold the property, Sept. '2H, 1.S24, to 
Andrew N. Williams and Simon Tracy, who sold the same, ilarch 13, 
1828, to Sidney Pitkin, of Lel)anon. Elisha E. Ililliard, of Mansfield, 
first an employ^, then a partner, of Mr. Pitkin, afterward became the 
owner of the mill, lie was also principal owner of the Charter Oak 
Mill, in South Manchester. Later, F. W. Clark was as.sociated with 
Mr. llilli;ird in the ownership and operation of the latter, which was 
sold, in 1881, to Cheney Brotiiers. 

Tiie jtioncer manufacturer on Hop Brook was Charles Bunco. Hav- 
ing served his apprenticeship in a paper-mill in New Haven, he came 
to Hartford in 1788, and was employed by Pludson & Goodwin, 
printers and paper-manufacturers. He afterward worked in Butler's 
mill, and for 
four years 
was super- 
intendent of 
a mill in 
A n d o V e r. 
He then pur- 
chased of Elisha Pitkin an unfinished building designed for an oil-mill, 
which he comjjleted ; and there he began the manufacture of i)aper. 
His oldest son, George, worked in his father's mill till he became of 
age, in 1811, when he became a partner in tiie business. Tiie other 
sons, Heman, Charles, Walter, Lewis, and Edwin, engaged in ])aper- 

making ; other mills were built, and 
for more than sixty years an exten- 
sive business in this line was car- 
ried on by members of the family. 
Lewis Bunce, with his sons, Henry C. and Edgar, had a flourishing 
mill, wliicii was destroyed, with great loss, by the flood of ISt^O. For 
nearly twenty-five years George Bunce owned a mill on a site purchased 
of George Cheney. On retiring from business, in 1850, he sold it to 
Cheney Brothers. 

Another notable paper-maker was Peter Rogers, who in 1832 leased 
of Robert ilclvee a privilege occupied by a powder-mill, which he 
converted into a paper-mill, making />^ 

pres.s-boards and binder's boards. /J^ y //C^ 

Mr. Rogers came to this country a u -C^^'Z^:^^^ ^^a-C/€'^'y5 
poor boy from Amsterdam, in IIol- ^ 

land. He worked for a time in Butler's mill, and was a ]iartner. in 
1825, with William Debit in the mill at Buckland. He died in 1841. 
y^ The same vcar his 

erty on the ex])iration 
of the lease, and in 1849 erected another mill, which was burned in 
1869. The Atlantic Mill was erected on the same site in 1881. Tiic 
first mill was twenty-four feet by thirty, with two stories, and produced 



254 



MEMOPJAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



but one ton of paper per week. The second mill produced one and a 
half tons per day, and was the first in the country to use printed- 
paper stock in making white paper, extracting tlie ink by a novel 
process. Two other mills were built by Mr. Rogers farther east, — 
the first in 1852, the second in 1860. Tiie former was purchased by 
D. T. Ingalls & Co. It was afterward burned, and the present Oak 
Grove Mill was built on its site. 

In the vicinity of the mills last named are the cotton-warp mills 
of the Globe IManufacturing Company. This company purchased the 
privilege in Globe Hollow, previously occupied by the satinet-mill of 
the American Company, and in 1844 erected there a mill which was 
used for several years in making cotton warp, and afterward sold to 
Cheney Brothers. In 1853 the Globe Company purchased the Eagle 
Hill Mill, erected in 1836 by another company for making satinet, and 
continued the manufacture of cotton warp. After the decease of 
Joseph Parker, agent, the mill owned by F. D. Hale, on the site of 
the old cotton-miirof Richard Pitkin, became also the property of the 
Globe Manufacturing Company. 

At the Highlands, once included in the old Wyllys farm, the Case 
Brothers have'established their business. In 1862, A. Wells Case pur- 




WTLLYS FALLS. 

chased the privilege, and a mill built by Salter & Strong. In twelve 
years three mills were destroyed by fire and one by water. Two, built 
respectively in 1874 and 1884, are now in operation, making press- 
boards, binder's boards, and manila paper. Two others are operated by 
the same proprietors in the west jiart of the town on the sites formerly 
occupied by Buncc's mills, in which the Case Brothers learned in boyhood 
the art of paper-making. The romantic beauty of the Highlands is sur- 
passed by that of few otiier localities in New England. On the south- 



MANCHESTER. 



255 



east the bills arc crowned with forest ; in other directions a full view is 
afforded of JIancliestcr, Hartford, and an extensive |)ortion of the Con- 
necticut valley. Here the stream falls sixty-five feet over the rocks 
into the valley below, jirass-covered, and enclosed for some distance by 
wooded bluffs, — a miniature Yosemite. admired by all oijservers. At 
the l)asc of these blulTs are excavations liiat have been made for ore 
(sulphide of copper), which, being found in limiled (juantity, was once 
supposed to indicate the existence of valuable mines. In the original 
division of tlie land, the place where the copper-mines were supposed to 
bo was to remain undivided, " to lye for the general benefit of the i)ro- 
prietors." Above the falls are the mineral springs, containing — accord- 
ing to analysis by Professor Barker, formerly of Yale College — a large 
percentage of bicarbonate of ii'on, with sodium, calcium, magnesium, 
and other elements. In 18G9 eutcr|)i'ising parties erected here a com- 
modious house, intending to make the place a pleasure-resort. This 
building, just as it was completed, shared the fate of the mill below 
the falls, as well as of much other property that was swept away at the 
same time by the flood. 

The manufacturing enterprise most remarkable for its growtli is that 
of the Cheney Brothers. Near the close of the last century Timothy 
Cheney removed to a farm about a mile south of his former home at the 
Centre, and, imjiroving the water-power, built a saw-mill and grist-mill 
on the stream, and near it the house 
yet known in South Manchester as 
the Cheney homestead. When he 
died, in 1795, his son Timothy re- 
turned to the former home at the 
Centre, while George, another son, 
occupied the later house, and there 
passed his life, an influential citizen 
in his generation, as his father had 
been before him. George Cheney 
was married to Electa Woodbridge, 
Oct. 18, 1798. Tiicir children were 
Gcorue Wells, Joim, Charles, Kalph, 
Scth Wells, Ward. Riisli, Frank, and 
Electa, wife of the Hon. Riciiard 
Goodman, of Lenox, Mass. Several 
of the sons, after the manner of New 
England boys, left home in youth to 
engage in various pursuits. John 
and Scth became artists of rare skill 
and genius, and gave their energies 
chiefly to their profession, but had 
part in the business enterprises of 
their brothers. Scth W. Cheney 
died, greatly lamented, in 183l), aged forty-six. Charles and Ward 
were for several years merchants in Providence ; but later, Charles 
went to Ohio, where he bought a farm near Cincinnati. The brothers 
who remained at home became afterward interested in experiments 
in silk-culture. In March, 1830, they built a small mill known as 
the Mount Nebo Silk Mill, and began the manufacture of sewing- 




A CHENEY CLOCK. 



256 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

silk, — their iirst venture as silk-manufacturers. On the rise of 
the 3forns multicauUs speculation, Ward, Frank, Cliarles, and Rush 
Cheney went with ardor into the culture of mid berry-trees. Charles 
Cheney conducted his experiments on his farm in Ohio ; the three 
others took a farm at Burlington, New Jersey, Avhere they had nurs- 
eries and cocooneries, and where they published for a year or two " The 
Silk-Grower and Farmer's Manual." In 1841, after the collapse of the 
speculation throughout the country, the brothers returned to South 
Manchester and reopened the Mount Nebo Mill, making sewing-silk 
from imported raw silk. From this time dates the steady development 
of the silk-industry. The next ten years were years of experiment and 
study, aided by travel and close observation of what had been done 
abroad. Fraternal co-operation, natural ingenuity, and untiring appli- 
cation were the factors which produced success. In 1855 they made 
their first experiments in the production of spun silk from pierced 
cocoons, floss, silk waste, and whatever silk cannot be reeled. These 
hitherto almost waste materials have by special machinery been spun 
into fine yarns and woven into beautiful and durable fabrics. From a 
small beginning this new industry, developed by years of patient and 
costly experiment, grew to be the specialty of the business. The 
present company was incorporated in 1854 under the name of Cheney 
Brothers Silk Manufacturing Company, with a capital of 11,000,000. 
During the same year, the growth of the business requiring a larger 
number of hands than could be obtained at tliat time except in cities, a 
mill was built in Hartford, of which Charles Cheney had special charge 
until 1868, when he returned to South JManchester. 

The original Mount Nebo Mill Avas a small building, with machinery 
driven by water-power, and gave employment to half a dozen hands. 
In place of this has arisen the group of buildings known as the Old 
Mill, comprising the business offices, with various departments for 
weaving, dyeing, finishing, and preparing goods for shipment. In 1871 
the New Mill (so called) was erected, consisting of four three-story 
brick buildings, each two Inindred and fifty feet long and connected by 
a common front. The Lower Mill is a third group, comprising a large 
carpenter's shop and the building formerly used for velvet-weaving. 
Near by are also the gas-works for lighting the mills and the whole 
village. Cheney's Hall is a spacious brick building which serves an 
important purpose as a place of meeting for religious, literary, and 
social occasions. In the third story is the armory of Company G, First 
Regiment Connecticut National Guard. Tiie public library and reading- 
room, till recently occupying the basement, have been removed to a 
commodious building specially provided. The number of names on 
the Cheney pay-rolls lias increased from the original half-dozen to over 
fifteen hundred. The mills are models of order and convenience in 
their internal arrangements, while their attractive surroundings mani- 
fest the same taste and care that appear alike in the private grounds 
and residences of the proprietors and in the comely cottages and 
shaded avenues of the village. 

In 18(39 the Cheney Brotiiers built between South Manchester and 
North Manchester the branch railroad connecting with wliat is now the 
New York and New England Railroad. This liiie, from the date of its 
opening as the Hartford, Providence, and Fishkill road in 1850, to the 



MANCHESTER. 259 

present time, wlicn eialit or more passen<i;er-t rains eacli way daily con- 
nect the villages witli llartfoi'd, New York, I'rovidence, and Boston, lias 
been an important factor in the growth of the town, to which also the 
branch road has contributed in jio small degree. 

At the time of the final division of the five-mile purchase in 1753, 
a considerable number of settlers had located here, and they had 
preaching a ])art of tlic time. Since 1748 they had been allowed their 
proportion of the ministers' rate, not exceeding three montiis in the 
year. Prior to 1748 they had paid their rate wlioUy to the Third Soci- 
ety of Hartford, now the First Society of East Hartford. The minis- 
ter of this society and those of other neighboring parishes rendered 
service to the people of the Five Miles by occasional preaching, baptiz- 
ing their children, and attendance at marriages and funerals. In May, 
1772, the ecclesiastical society was established by the General Court, 
and named the Ecclesiastical Society of Orford.' The first meeting 
was held Aug. 13, 177-, — Ca])tain Josiah Olcott, moderator, Timothy 
Cheney, clerk. The hrst action of the society was a vote to build a 
" meeting-house for publick worship," and to raise for this object three- 
pence on the pound on the list in money, and ninepence on the pound 
in grain or labor, to be paid in 1773. Timothy Ciieney, Richard Pitkin, 
and Robert Mclvee were chosen a committee to receive the above grants 
and improve tliem for the jjurpose named. Captain Josiah Olcott and 
Ensign Solomon (iilman were chosen agents to apply to the General 
Assembly for a tax <in the land of non-residents. Also an agent was 
chosen to apply to tlie county court for a committee '• to ailix a place 
in said society for to build 

a meeting-house on." "The l^ ^ */) 

bigness of the meeting-house " f^jj^C^rTT^t^yZ ^^/Cl/y^^''^^ 
by a subsequent vote was de- C/ /r 

termined to be fifty -four feet ^ 

by forty. The house in which this society meeting was held, and which 
had been used for a considerable time for religious services, called 
afterward the '' old meeting-house," stood under the oak-trees in the 
thirty-rod highway, about eight rods east of the present site of the 
Centre Church. 

The enterprise of building the new house was one of serious magni- 
tude. The first difficulty was to fix the location. The committee 
appointed by the county coui't fixed upon a site which the society de- 
clined to accei)t. A re(iuest for another committee was refused ; where- 
upon, at the ^lay session in 1773, Messrs. Timothy Cheney, Richard 
Pitkin, and Ward Woodbridgc, agents for Orford society, jiresented a 
memorial to the General Assembly, setting forth that 

" Their Honors, in tender regard for the happiness and welfare of the aieino- 
rialists, were plertsetf to establish tlieni as an Kcelcsiastical Society, and th,at 
tliey soon agreed in due form to l)uild a meeting-house, and ap])lied to the 
County Court for a committee to affix a place for that purpose ; that said Com- 
mittee came out and affixed a place without notice to the east part of the 
society, and that they fixed on a side hill in a very inconvenient and very dis- 
gusting place ; praying tliat tlie stake may be stucli further east, at or near the 
point where the four roads come togetlier." 

' From Orford in Eiiglatid ; or tlius, — '\Vinds-Or, Hart-/i>r<i. 



260 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

The objectionable site was a few rods west of the present crossing of 
the branch railroad to South Manchester. After long discussion upon 
this memorial in both houses, a committee was appointed, who, after 
thoroughly viewing the premises, established the site according to the 
desire of the memorialists. The obstacles in the way of building were 
still more formida))le. The work was undertaken on the eve of the 
troublous times of the Revolutionary War, and the result contemplated 
by the society's vote in 1772 was not fully realized till twenty years 
afterward. In 1777 the first grant had not all been paid, and the 
frame, which then had just been raised, remained for a considerable 
time without being enclosed. In 1779 it was voted to raise one shilling 
on the pound to be laid out in covering the meeting-house. This house 
with only its board covering and its rough slab or plank seats, w-ith no 
provision for heating, was the Sabbath home of the church, which was 
organized on the 29th of July, with eighteen members, — sixteen men 
and two women. The society was moved doubtless to this step toward 
completing the building by the prospect of having a duly organized 
church and a settled minister. Further progress toward completing 
the house was delayed for several years. This was the darkest period 
of the war. About this time New Haven and East Haven were plun- 
dered by the British, and Fairfield, Norwalk, and Green's Farms were 
wantonly burned. Nothing was decisive in military affairs, and every- 
thing pertaining to the final residt of the great struggle seemed to hang 
in douljt. It was a time of great financial embarrassment. Conti- 
nental money had depreciated in value till one dollar in silver was 
worth sixteen dollars of currency, and six months later one dollar in 
silver was worth forty in currency. About this time the sum of =£1,300 
was raised by the society as the yearly outlay on the highways, and 
the allowance to each man for labor thereon was twenty dollars per day. 
After long delay, however, the matter of finishing the meeting-house 
was again taken up ; eighty-nine persons subscribed for the purpose 
sums varying from £1 to £13, and on May 20, 179-t, twenty-one years 
after the Assembly's committee had set the stake, it was "Voted, That 
the Society is satisfied with the repairing and finishing of the meeting- 
house in tlie parish of Orford as per instruction given to the committee 
to finish said house, provided the pew doors are well hung and the red 
paint covered on the front side of said house." This was the house 
which the Rev. Mr. Northrop referred to thirty-six years later as 
having been "finished after the approved models of ancient incon- 
venience and discomfort." It had its high pulpit, broad sounding- 
board, lofty galleries, and square high-backed pews, the true conception 
of which was suggested to a five-year old lad when taken for the first 
time to the Sunday school. Becoming restless during the exercises, 
he went into the aisle, saying to his attendant, who thought he had 
started for home, "I'm only goin' into the next pen." This house 
was occupied until 1826. A new one was then erected on nearly the 
same ground, of better architecture, but like the former in its inter- 
nal order as to pulpit, galleries, and pews. In 1840 the latter house 
was reconstructed within, and raised so as to admit of a basement cor- 
responding in size with the audience-room above. It had an open 
portico, with stone steps along the entire front. In consideration of five 
hundred dollars paid by the town, the basement was used thereafter 






MANCIIESTKR. 261 

for the transaction of public business. Prior to lS2tJ tlu; town-meet- 
ings were held in the old church. From 1820 to 1840 they were 
held for some years in the iletliodist meeting-house, and occasionally 
at the house of George Rich. In 1879 the society sold the meeting- 
house to the town ; it was removed about eight rods west, and put in 
good order for public use. The same year the present house of worship 
was built. It was dedicated on the 3d of December, and on the nc.\t 
day the centennial auui\ersary of the organization of the church was 
celebrated. On this occasion about six hundred persons were i)resent, 
some having come from alar to commemoraU; tlu' faith and sacrifices of 
those who here laid the; foundations on w iiii li three generations have 
been permitted to build. 

The fu'st pastor, the llev. Benajah Phelps, was settled in 1781. He 
was paid a "settlement of £150, and an annual salary of £100," 
payable in money or in produce, according to the late regulation act ; 
namely, ''wheat at (5.'!. per bushel, rye at ■is., corn at 3s., and all other 
articles agreeable."' - ^ 

Mr. Phelps was a ^^^ ^X 

native of Hebron, a 
graduate of Yale Col- 
lege, and before his 
settlement here had ])reaeliod thirteiMi years at Cornwallis, Nova f'^cotia. 
He was dismissed in 17U-3, but did not remove his residence. He died 
Feb. 10, 1S17, aged seventy-nine. The Rev. Salmon King was settled 
in 1800, and alter a ministry of eight years removed to Bradford 
County, Pennsylvania, where at first he itinerated in the forests and 
at length gathered a church to which ho ministered twenty-five years, 
till his death, in 1839, at the age of sixty-eiglit. The pastorate of the 
Rev. Elisha B. Cook, from 1814 to 1823, was distinguished by a remark- 
able revival of the church from a condition of almost suspended anima- 
tion, and by the sail circumstances of his decease. He was drowned in 
attempting to cross a stream while assisting a neighbor in the hay -field. 
Thus in the prime of manhood, at the age of thirty-six, his career of 
unusual activity and usefulness was abruptly closed. The pastorate of 
the Rev. Bennett F. Northrop, from 1829 to 1850, was the longest in 
the history of the church.' 

In 1785 Thomas Spencer invited the Rev. George Roberts, a Method- 
ist itinerant, to preach at his house ; and soon after, a class of six per- 
sons was formed. From this germ have grown the two flourishing 
churches in the town. The church grew in numbers and strength, 

' A notii-c of till! pastors of the Fii'st Church may he. found in the published account of 
tlie Ouo lluudredth Anniversary; also of ministers wlio have gone forth from tlie parish, whose 
names are as follows; Allen OK^ott, Koilolpluis Landfear, .\nson (ileason, Nelson I!islio]i, Kalph 
I'efry, Chester S. Lyman, .VUen B. Hitchcock, Elisha W. Cook, Frederick Alvord, John B. 
Griswold, Charles Griswold, Charles N. Lyman. Mr. Gleason was a second " apostle to the 
Indians," having spent over thirty-six years as a teacher and preacher among the Choctaws, 
Senecas, and Mohegans. Chester S. Lyman has been for many years a professor in Yale Col- 
lege. There are those who recall the ardor of his early pui-suit of science, when, a boy, he 
studied the stars from the observatories of our eastern hills, construi'ting liis own telescopes 
and mathematical instruments. Of other natives of the town, Frederick W. Pitkin was a 
graduate of Wesleyan University in 18.">8, settled as a lawyer in Milwaukee, Wis., removed to 
Colorado, and became Governor of that State. Wilbur Fisk Loomis was a graduate of Wes- 
leyan University in 1851; became pastor of the Congregational f'hurch, Shelburne Falls, 
Mass.; engaged in the service of the Christian Commission during the War of the Rebellion ; 
and died Jan. 6, 1864, in Nashville, Teun. 



262 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

sometimes tlirougli powerful revivals affecting the whole community, 
as in 1814 and 1821. In 1822 a new house of worship was built at 
the Centre. 

In 1850 the growth of the north village had become such as to re- 
quire stated religious services. The Second Congregational Church was 
formed, and its house of worship dedicated Jan. 8, 1851. This church, 
growing steadily from tlie beginning, celebrated its twenty-fifth anni- 
versary in 1876. The Methodists residing in North Manchester, follow- 
ing the example of the Congregationalists, also organized a church and 
built a new house of worsliip in 1851, — the two churches thus resuming 
relations similar to those of the two parent churches in former years. 
About two years later the Metliodist society disposed of their church 
property at the Centre, and erected the present house of worship on a 
very eligible site at South Manchester. 

Early in this century a Baptist church was organized, holding ser- 
vices in a meeting-house, in which also a school was kept, on the trian- 
gulTir plot a short distance soutli of the town-liouse. A second house 
was built farther north ; but after some years religious service was dis- 
continued and the house was sold and removed. 

The Protestant Episcojial Church held services first in 184-3 at North 
Manchester. St. Mary's Parish was organized in 1844. In tlie course 
of years the place of worship was changed to other points, — Oaliland, 
the Green, and the Centre. From 1874 to 1883 services were held in the 
Centre academy building. A new and convenient church edifice was 
erected in 1883, — the church home of the present flourisliing parish. 

The Roman Catholic Church has a large membership, with two 
houses of worship. Its religious services were first held at North 
Manchester, where St. Bridget's Church was erected in 1858. The 
large and commodious church edifice, known as St. James's Church, 
erected at South Manchester in 1876, is delightfully located, and is an 
ornament to the village. 

The first school within the present limits of the town was estab- 
lished in 1745. The third society of Hartford " Voted, That those per- 
sons living on the Five Miles of land in this society have their ratable 
part of school money improved among themselves by direction of 
the school committee, from time to time, until the society shall order 
otherwise." Josiah Olcott was the first committee ; and the school 
was near his house, which stood on the site of the residence of the late 
Sidney Olcott. In 1751 the society passed a vote authorizing several 
schools on \he Five Miles as follows ; namely, one to accommodate Lieu- 
tenant Olcott, Sei-geant Olcott, the Simondses, and those living near 
them ; one on Jamb-Stone Plain ; ^ one near Ezekiel Webster's ; one in 
the Centre, betAveen Sergeant Samuel Gaines's and Alexander Keeney's ; 
and one near Dr. Clark's. When the Ecclesiastical Society of Orford 
was established, the schools and highways, as well as church affairs, 
were under its supervision. In October, 1772, the society " Voted, That 
when any school district in the society shall keep up a master-school 
three months in the year tliey shall be entitled to their pro])ortion of 
the publick money according to their list, and proportionately for shorter 

^ The north part of Buckland, where the quarries are located. The use to whicli tlie stone 
was once applied in building suggested the name. 



MANCHESTER. 263 

terms." At the same time it was voted to set out the society of Orford 
into school districts, whicii were numbered and named as follows : first, 
or middle ; second, or west ; third, or southwest ; fourth, or south ; 
fifth, or east ; sixth, or north.' 

In 1795 the (Jeneral Assembly provided for the formation of school 
societies. The first mcefinir of the school society of Orford was held 
Oct. 31, 1796, — Deacon .losepli Lyman, nK)derat(n', Dr. George Oris- 
wold, clerk. The principal business of the annual meeting of the school 
society was the appoint nicnt of conunittccs. In the list of school 
visitors at the boirinning of the century we find the names of the 
Rev. Salmon King, the Rev. Allen Oicott, Dr. George Griswold, Moses 
Gleason, Richard Pitkin, Timothy Cheney, Deodat Woodbridge, Joseph 
Pitkin, Alexander M'Lean. 

In the early history of the society the district school furnished the 
only (i)ipoitunity for education, exccjit the occasional select school, and 
privat(^ insti-uctiiin suniotimcs given l)y the minister. Before the days 
of seminaries and high schools the village academy, usually under the 
direction of a board of trustees, was a useful institution. In this town, 
thirty years ago, two imposing academy buildings might be seen, — one 
at the Centre, the other on tlie eminence eastward, from its command- 
ing site a prominent object of observation. A stranger might have in- 
quired the meaning of these two institutions in such close proximity. 
His natural ami true inference would have been the zeal of the people 
in the cause of education. He might also have judged with equal truth 
that there once existed in the town an East and a West, that on occasion 
were accustomed to differ ; and in th(> matter of locating the academy, 
the dilTerence was about three fourths of a mile. At that time there 
was no committee of the General Assembly, as in 1773, to set the stake. 
However, the aca<lemies served a noble purpose. In them able in- 
structors dispensed their stores of knowledge, and many educated in 
these schools are doing grand work in the world. But the schools 
were hnig ago given up. Tiu; increasing efficiency of our public-school 
system has superseded the viliagv academy. 

The i)ublic schools in the town at present comprise one school with 
six departments at North .Manchester, one with eight departments at 
South Manchester, tiirec with two departments each and four with one 
department each in other districts. The larger schools are open to 
pupils from all the districts. The number of children Ijetween four 
and sixteen years of age was in 1830, 497 ; in 1840, 517 ; in 1850, 584 ; 
in 1800, 812 ; in 1870, 872; in 1880, 1,587 ; in 1884, 1,675. 

The incorporation of the town was a matter seriousl}' agitated as 
early as 1812. From that time till 1823 the annual meetings of the 
town of East Hartford were held alternately with the First Society and 
at the meeting-house in Orford Parish. Opposition to the act of incor- 
poration was made by the peojile of East Hartford for the same reason 
that the formation of the Ecclesiastical Society was opjioscd in 1772 ; 
namely, that the boundary line did not correspond with that of the 

' The order of school districts cstahlished in 1859 corresponds with the present order ; 
namely : 1. Xorthe.-<.st ( Oakland ) ; 2. East (the fireen); 3. Sonthenst (Porter district); i. South; 
5. Southwest; 6. West ; 7. Northwest (Buckhmd); 8. North (North Manchester); 9. Centre, 
including South Manchester. 



264 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

original five-mile purchase. The latter boundary is near the Hillstown 
road, in Spencer Street. The town boundar}' agreeing with that of 
Orford society is half a mile farther west, about eighty rods beyond the 
cemetery. 

The first meeting of the town of Manchester was held June 16, 1823. 
Dudley Woodbridge was chosen town clerk ; George Cheney, Martin 

Keeney, and Joseph Noyes, select- 
/S^ y/y^/'-y^^ men. The first representative in 

y/-C.O^,0/C/ yy^ O^tjC^^l,^^, the General Assembly was George 
^^ ^^ ^1^ Cheney. Mr. Woodbridge was suc- 

^ ^ ceeded by George Cheney as town 

clerk in 1825, and the latter in 1828 by George Wells Cheney, who 
held the office until his decease, in 1840. The office has since been 
held by William Jones, Ralph R. Phelps, Ralph Cheney, Samuel R. 
Dimock, and 
Daniel Wads- 
worth, — the 
last by an- 
nual election 
from 1855 to the present time. 

Three burying-grounds were opened east of the river prior to the 
incorporation, in 1783, of East Hartford, which for forty years after 
included the Five Miles. Two of these are now known as the east 
and west cemeteries in Manchester. The west cemetery is doubtless 
the older, tlie oldest stone there bearing date 1743. There are doubt- 
less unmarked graves of still earlier date, since the highway as it now 
runs takes in a portion of the oldest part of this yard. It is probable 
that for a number of years after the first settlement the peojile in 
this section in many cases buried their dead in the first yard, now 
belonging to East Hartford, as the family names often correspond, and 
the burials here succeed in the order of dates the burials there. The 
east cemetery was opened about 1750, the oldest stone bearing date 
1751. This yard, enlarged in 1867, now contains seventeen acres. 
It includes a portion of tlie diversified upland on the south, which has 
been laid out at liberal expense and with excellent taste. In the cast 
cemetery arc found the names of Bidwell, Cheney, Cone, Griswold, 
Keeney, McKee, Lyman, Pitkin, Woodbridge ; " in the west, Bidwell, 
Bunce, Caldwell, Elmer, Hills, Keeney, Kennedy, McKee, Marsh, Olcott, 
Spencer, and Symonds, most of them of people who had to do with the 
welfare of the ' eastermost parish ' in its early days." ^ The northwest 
cemetery, at Buckland, was opened in 1780. It is beautiful for situa- 
tion, occupying a plateau raised thirty feet above the surrounding plain. 
Here arc the graves of Dr. William Cooley and Dr. William Scott, each 
of whom was for thii'ty years honored in the profession. The names 
of Buckland, Jones, Hilliard, and others recall the memory of persons 
identified with the interests of the town. 

It is evident that the spirit of " seventy-six " was intense in this 
section of Hartford in the Revolution. Several votes of the Orford 
society a"c recorded, abating the rates of soldiers in the pulilic service. 
Timothy Cheney was captain, and Richard Pitkin lieutenant, of a 
company that went into the field. Washington, learning of Captain 

^ See J. 0. Goodwin's History of East Hartford. 



MANCHESTER. 265 

Cheney's niechuiiical ijonius, desired his services for anotlier purpose, 
and he was ordered iiume to manufacture powder-sieves for use in tlie 
army, Lieutenant Pitivin succeeding to the command of the company. 
Lebanon was tiie headquarters of military operations for tiiis part of 
the State, and soldiers, passinjr to and from Hartford, were entertained 
at Oicott's tavern in the west district. The Rev. Uenajali Phelps had a 
severe e.xpcriem.'c in connection witli the war. Kesidinj^ in Nova .Scotia, 
he was jjiit to the alteinativc of leaving the Province or taking uji arms 
against ids country, lie found means to escape, leaving his family 
and nearly all his effects. Afterward, having obtained a permit to go 
back for his family, he was taken by a British man-of-war, and after 
some time was put on board a boat with a number of others about 
fourteen miles froiu land in very rough weather, and left to the mercy 
of the seas, l)ut finally arrived at ilachias, and never returneil to Xova 
Scotia. His family came to him a year afterward at Boston. In con- 
sideration of his losses he received some years later from the General 
Assembly a grant of £150. 

The record of Manchester in the War of the Rebellion cannot here 
be fully given. The outburst of indignant patriotism when Fort .Sum- 
ter fell, the war-meetings, the response to the first call for volunteers 
to defend the national capital, subsequent enlistments, bounties paid, 
aid-societies organized, encampment of the boys in blue on the grounds 
of the old Centre Church, the enthusiastic dei^arture, the gallant record 
of suffering and death, defeat and victory, — in all this we have the 
witness that this historic ground could still produce heroes worthy of 
the old days " that tried men's souls." JIanchester' sent to the war 
two hundred and fifty-one; men ; namely, volunteers two iiundred and 
twenty-foui', substitutes and drafted, twenty-seven. Of the whole num- 
ber the record includes killed in action six, and died in service from 
disease or wounds, thirty-two.- The two hundred and fifty-one men 
were scattered into widely separated commands. — in all twentv- 
seven. Forty were in the First Connecticut Artillery, forty-four in the 
Si.xteenth Regiment Infantry, thirty-eight in the Tenth, fifteen in the 
Fifth, and numbers varying from one to eleven in other regiments, and 
three in tlie Navy. Among the olficers from JIanchester were Captain 
Frederick M. Barber, who was killed at Antietam, Lieutenant-Colonel 
Frank W. Cheney of the Sixteenth Connecticut, who was severely 

' The Speuecr rilic, invented by Christopliei- M. Spencer, of Jfancliester, should be noted 
as a vahiable contribution of this town to tlie war. It was the result of patient study and 
experiment, on tlic ]iart of the inventor, in the machine-shop of the Cheney Brothers. " The 
manufacture of the riHe for the Government was carried on by the Spencer liide Conijiany, in 
wliich the Cheney Brothers invested a very large sum of money before tlie successful develop- 
ment of the invention. Tlie works, for the sake of convenience, wei-e established in Boston. 
The merit of the weapon proved so great that the demand for it exceeded the capacity of the 
factory in Boston, and for a time the works of the Burnsidc Kille Company, in Providence, 
were also employed to fill the orders. One hundred thousand of the titles were in the field. 

2 Those who were killed in action were Captain Frederick Barber, .lohn H. Couch, 
Aniandor C. Keeney (only sixteen years old), Charles Robinson, Julius C. Wilsey, ami Lucius 
Wheeler. The others who died in the service, of disease and wounds, in hospitals, etc., — 
a more lingering but no less heroic death, — were as follows: Hobart I). Bishop, James 
Hrookroau, James B. Chapman, Thomas Connor, Matthew Covel. (Irrin J. Cushman, James 
Dawlcy, Haniel Haveity, John Hoi-slcy, Loren House, liufus N. Hubbard, Michael llussey, 
I'eter Johnson, Samuel W. King, James M. Keith, Slarvin I.oveland, Levi F. Lyman, 
Frederick JIunsell, Ezekiel L. Post, John livnes, Watson C. .Salter, John Smith, James 
Touhey, Francis H. Wright, C.corgc M'right, H. T. Gray, George A. Marble, George Wal- 
bridge, George Brookman, George F. Kuox, J. Swcetlond, George Keeney. 



266 MKMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

wounded at Antietam, and Brigadier-General John L. Otis, who went 
out as Lieutenant of the Tenth Connecticut. 

The amount paid by the town during the war for bounties, pre- 
miums, commutations, and support of families was $47,212.70 ; individ- 
uals paid $8,000 : total, $55,212.70. The soldiers' monument, standing 
in the park in front of the Centre Church, was dedicated Sept. 17, 1877. 
It consists of a square granite pedestal about eight feet high, sur- 
mounted b}^ a statue of a soldier in uniform looking with firm and 
thoughtful features toward the south. 

Drake Post No. 4, G. A. K., named after Colonel Albert W. Drake, 
of the Tenth Connecticut Volunteers, was organized July 9, 1875, with 
ten members. It has now one hundred and fifty-five, and has been 
from the first a flourishing organization.^ 

Manchester was made a probate district in 1850. The town has had 
two representatives in the legislature since, and beginning with, the ses- 
sion of 1882. The census of 1880 showed that the population had 
passed the figure (5,000) at which by State law a town is entitled to 
such representation. 

Seventy-five years ago the larger portion of the inhabitants of Orford 
were in the east and west sections, and agriculture was the chief 
industrv. Union Village contained only seven small dwelling-houses, 
and the entire population of what is now called North Manchester 
is estimated to have been not moi-e than one hundred and fifty. 
From the present site of W. H. Cheney's store in South Mancheser 
might be seen perhaps half a dozen houses. There was no road at 
that point running east and west. A lane led down by George Cheney's 
house to the house of Robert McKee, which stood on the present site 
of John Sault's residence, thence over the hill to the Hackmatack Road, 
which tiien, as now, extended east from Keeney Street across the north 
and south road to Wyllys Falls. There were no stores, and no mills 
except the saw-mill, grist-mill, and fulling-mill of George Cheney; 
Hop Brook, winding down from Bolton hills, gave a charm to the 
valley. On the southeast, Mount Nebo raised its wooded crest toward 
the sky ; named, doubtless, from the delightful view it afforded of the 
land, fair e\en in its primitive aspect, before it had been called, as in 
later times by high authority, the " Eden of the w^orld." 

The population of the new town in 1823 was about 1,400. In 1830, 
it was 1,576; in 1840, 1,695 ; in 1850, 2,546 ; in 1860, 3,294 ; in 1870, 
4,223 ; in 1880, 6,462. The taxable property in 1823 was $62,009 ; in 
1883 it was $2,792,600.2 

1 Many of the focts liere given ijertainiug to Manchester's record in the late war were 
furnished by Major Robert H. Kellogg. 

2 The labor of preparing even so brief and imperfect a sketch cannot be known by one 
who has not undertaken a similar task. The above wouid have been far less complete with- 
out the aid of previous researches by Judge E. R. IHmufk, and of facts furuislied by others, 
especially by Colonel F. W. Cheney and by Messrs. Jauies Cauipbell and Olin R. Wood. 



^ftJ.4Uj 



XYTL 
MARLBOROUGH. 

BY MISS MARY HALL. 

MARLBOROUGH lies in tlie extreme southeastern part of the 
county, and is fifteen miles distant from Hartford. It was 
formed from portions of C!lastonl:)ury, Ili'l)ron, ami Colchester, 
which are situated in the tliree counties of Hartford, Tolland, and New 
London respectively, and is bounded north by (Jlastonbury, east by 
Hebron, south by Colchester, and west by Chatham, the latter until 
17H7 being a part of Middletown. 

The area of the town at its incorporation in LSO.'j was about 
eighteen square miles. Ten years later an addition was made from 
Glastonbury, increasing its area to twenty -two s(|uare miles; the 
average length now being five and a half miles, and its average width 
four miles. It is very irregular in shape, and its rugged surface at 
some points swells into picturesque hills. The northern part, the 
natin-al boundary between Marlborough and Glastonbury, known as 
Dark Hollow, is a rare picture of disordered and broken masses of 
rocks rising to great heights, contrasting with wide stretches of wood- 
land and wa.ste open ground dotted with evergreens. Ravines cut this 
extensive tract of unimproved land in various directions running longi- 
tudinally through (ilastonbury and Marlliorough. These hills and 
ravines were barriers between the towns until the building of the Hart- 
ford and New London Turnpike. Marlborough Lake, so called, is a 
beautiful basin of clear water nearly a mile in length and a half-mile 
in width, set anioug rolling hills which rise gracefully to a considerable 
height in some ])laces. The lake is fed by underground springs, and is 
without visible inlet. In some ]ilaces the depth has never been ascer- 
tained. Pickerel fishing has long been enjoyed here, and more recently 
fine black bass have been taken. Granite quarries for home supplies 
have been opened and have yielded a good (piality of stone. Black 
lead, or plumbago, has l)ecn found in small quantities in some parts of 
the town. 

The only river of sufficient size to be dignified by a name is Black- 
ledge's River, or Brook, which runs through the eastern f)art in a 
southerly direction to join the ."^almon River in Colchester. The lake 
and numerous small strenms furnish excellent water privileges, and 
tliere are two mineral chalybeate springs in the southern part of the 
town, one of which has more than a local rejiutation. 

The first settlements in the town were made in the southern part. 
Tradition tells us that a Mr. Carrier came up from Colchester town 



268 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

and made the first clearing, on which he built the cabin that was his 

dwelling for some years. He had several encounters with the Indians, 

, but finally succeeded in estab- 

/** ^~T^^ lishing himself as proprietor 

C--9yP^^ y^O'^^^<^r^f of the soil. Messrs. Foot and 

Cy ^-—7^—--. Skinner soon followed, and later 

^-^ the Messrs. Lord settled in the 

same neighborhood. The lands in that part of the town are still owned 

by the descendants of those early settlers. 

A little later Samuel Loveland came from a /-•-^^^C^ // 
Glastonbury and built the first house in the u/ J^'^^J^^^ 

northern part of the town. The first set- 
tlers in the eastern part were persons by the name of Buell, Phelps, and 
Owen, while Ezra Strong, Ezra Carter, and Daniel Hosford settled at 
the centre and western part. 

On May 15, 1736, fourteen subscribers, " hereto Inhabitants in Col- 
chester, Hebron and Glastenbury," petitioned the General Assembly for 
a separate place of worship. " We would Humbly Shew to your Hon''^ our 
Difficult Circumstances.' our Living So far from any Pis of the publick 
worship of God. Some Living Seven, Some Eight miles &: Several of us 
have so Weakley wives y* arc not able to go to the Publick worship of 
God. . . . their are above sixty children in our neighborhood which are 
so small that they are not able to go to any place of Publick woi'ship." 
They asked the privilege of " hiring an orthodox minister to preach 
the word to k amongst us." The residents in Glastonbury (Eastbury 
society) were "John Waddoms, Abraham Skinner, daved dekason 
[Dickinson], Samuell Loveland, Joseph Whight [White] ;" in Colchester 
(First society), " Epaphras and Ichabod Lord;" in Hebron, "Beuja 
neland, Wilam Beull, Benjamin Nelan, Jr., John k Joseph Neland," also 
" Worthy Walters and Ebenezer Mudg," who were probably residents of 
Hebron. The Assembly granted the ])etitioners liberty to employ a 
minister, but did not release them from taxes for the support of the 
ministry in the ecclesiastical societies to which they respectively be- 
longed.^ The following year (1737) a petition to which thirty-two names 
were attached was presented. But one " Benjamin nelan " appears, and 
" Ebenezer Mudg " is absent ; otherwise the names are those of the pre- 
vious petition. And to these are added, — from Colchester, "Abraham 
and Daniel Day, Andrew Carrier, Andrew Carrier, Jr., Benjamin Carrier, 

and Benjamin Carrier, Jr., David 
^ ^ ^7\ .^^. /^ -i j^ju Bigelow;" from Hebron, "Noah 
(^_yi''}4 dre'Ki (^arr*-^ Owen,IsaacNeland,TimothyBuel;" 

from Glastonbury, " Charles Love- 
man [Loveland] ;" also " Robert Cogswell, Nathan Dunham, Sr., Rochel 
Jones, John and Deliverence Waters, Samuel Addams, John Addams 
(his mark), Daniel Addams, Joseph Kellogg, Samuel Buel, and Benj. 
Skinner." This petition was not granted ; but the perseverance of 
these pioneers shows itself in the repeated petitions which followed in 
1740, 1745, 1746, and 1747. That of April, 1747, having been received 
favorably, the society was incorporated, and named Marlborough. The 

^ There was no bridge over Salmon River, and old people still remember when it had to be 
forded. 

'■^ Connecticut Archives, vol. viii. doc. 205. 



MARLBOROUOn. 269 

society without doubt took its name linui Afarilwrough, Mass.; the 
largest tax-payer in the society being David liigelow,' a representative 
of a family coiisi)icuous in thc'history of the old town of Marlborough, 
Mass. Ezra Carter, another inlluential member of the new society, 
came from the same town. /"—>/» o^ / . /\ 

The transfer i.f David liigelowi OA /vfrC-d) /D '1(7 qMc^txY 
from tlie chuivh in t'olehester t.. ^ ^^ ^'j^J^-^^ "-^ 

the Marlborough church tells us c^ 

that in its early history it was called New Marlborough. 

On the 4th of April,"l748, the society voted unanimously '-to set a 
meeting-house on the top of the hill on the east side of tiic highway 
twentv-eigiit rods north of Ezra Strong's house." They ajipointed a com- 
mittee consisting of Epaphras Lord, Captain William Huell, Lieutenant 
Dickinson, Daniel llosford, Ezra Carter, and Andrew Carrier, to frame, 
raise, and cover the meeting-house. Before anything was done toward 
the building beyond the appointing of this committee and a contribution 
of timber, the" society turned their attention to the settlement of a 
preacher. The Rev. Evander Morrison seems to have preached to them 
for some time previous to and after the incorporation of the society : 
but they did not give him a call to settle. The Rev. Samuel Loekwood, 
who had graduated at Yale in 1745, was invited to settle, but declined. 
The Rev.' Elijah Mason, a graduate of Yale in 1744, was then asked to 
preach as a candidate ; and Aug. 17, 1748, the society gave him a call 
to settle, which he accepted, and was ordained in ilay, 1749. The 
church, which was not organized until the council met to ordain 
Mr. Mason, was composed of such members as were in good and 
regular standing in the churches to which they belonged. 

The work of framing, raising, and covering the house was now 
besun, the expense being defrayed by levying a ta.x of four shillings on 
tlie pound. A little later in the same year tlie windows were glazed. 
This .seems to have cxliausted their resources, and nothing more was 
done until Ai)ril, 1754, when it was voted " to make seats and pews, to 
seal said house up to the windows, and also to make two pairs of stairs." 
In the course of the same year it was voted " to make one tier of 
pews on the back side and on both ends of our meeting-house, and two 
tiers of pews on the foreside of said house, and the remainder of the 
lower part of said house to be filled with seats." The following year, 
" Voted that a conunittee provide joice and boards at the society's cost 
for the gallery floor." Dec. 10, 1756, they voted to procure a lock and 
suitable fastenings for the meeting-house doors, at the society's cost. 

Early in 1701 certain charges brought against the Rev. Mr. Mason 
led to his dismissal after a pastorate of twelve years ; butjn'^ a subse- 
quent council he was restored to the ministry, and in 1767 he was 
settled in Chester, where he died in February, 1770. 

1 John, son of .Toshiia and Elizabi-th (FKigg) Bigelow, ami (according to a family genc- 
alog)-) seventh in de.scent from I{al|>h de Bogiiely, was born Dec, 2, 1681, and di.d March 8, 
1770. Several of hi.s father's family settled in Hartford as early .as 1669 and 1670, and 
others soon after on the east side of the river. A deed dated Feb. 26, 1706, conveying land 
to .John, the father of David of Marlborough, opens as to gi-antee as follows: "To .John 
Bigelow, son of .loshua Bigelow of Watertown, Mass., which John Bigelow now dwells in 
Hartford on the ei\st." D.avid settled in Colchester in 1730, but was not dismissed from the 
church in Westchester ami ivcommendcd to the church in New Marlborough till Nov. 5, 
1750. HemarriiHl Editha Dav, Deo. 11, 1729, and died Juno 2, 1799. His wife, who was 
bom Sept. 10, 1705, died Jan. 19, 1746. 



270 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

The society was supplied for nearly a year by preachers from neigh- 
boring churches who volunteered their services to the struggling church, 
when the Rev. Benjamin Dunning, a young graduate from Yale (1759), 
was requested to preach as a candidate, and soon afterward received 
a call to settle, which he accepted. He was ordained in May, 1762. 

The galleries were completed in 1770. Three years later Mr. Dun- 
ning was dismissed. He was afterward settled in Saybrook (Pautapaug 
parish, now Centre Brook), where he died in May, 1785. 

In October, 1773, the Rev. David Huntington ^ was asked to preach 
as a candidate, accepting at first, but afterward declining on account of 
his health. The society repeated their call in February, 1776, and Mr. 
Huntington was installed the following year. Six years after his set- 
tlement the people renewed the work of completing the church, voting 
in 1782 " to erect pews in the body part of the house," also, "to shingle 
the front side with chestnut shingles." 

The next year they were ambitious to become a town, and ceased 
work on the church. The petitions of this and the following year, sent 
to the General Assembly asking for incorporation as a town, were not 
received favoral)ly by that body, and the people once more turned their 
attention to the meeting-house. In 1797, after a pastorate of twenty- 
one years, Mr. Huntington was dismissed, and the same year was 
settled over what is now the South Church in Middletown, whence 
he removed in 180-3 to North Lyme, where he died April 13, 1812. 
The painting and underpinning of the meeting-house and the laying of 
its steps made this remarkable structure complete in 1803. It had been 
fifty-four years in building, and was finished by laying the corner-stone 
last. The church was without a settled preacher for seven years after 
Mr. Huntington's dismissal, and during this period twenty different 
ministers supplied the pulpit. Of these, Sylvester Dana (1798), Vincent 
Gould (1799), Ephraim Woodruff, and Thomas Lewis (1801) received 
calls which were not accepted. 

The completion of the meeting-house was followed by the incorpo- 
ration of the town in May, 1803, and this by the settlement of the 
Rev. David B. Ripley ,2 in September, 1804, over the church. A fund 
of three thousand dollars was raised during his pastorate, the increase 

of which was " to be used 
for the support of preaching 
forever." Mr. Ripley sus- 
^y_, tained the relation of pastor 
*^ of the church twenty-three 

years. He was dismissed March 6, 1827, and preached for a year at 
Abington (Pomfret) ; then removed to Virgil, New York, and thence 
to Indiana, where he died in 1839 or 1840. 

The following have been his successors, with terms of service, to the 
present time : Dr. Chauncey Lee,^ Nov. 18, 1828-Jan. 11, 1837 ; Hiram 

1 The Rev. David Huntington graduated at Dartmouth College in 1773, and the same year 
received the honorary degree at Yale. He pursued the study of theology under his pastor, the 
Rev. Dr. Solomon Williams, of Lebanon. Two years after his settlement in Marlborough, 
Nov. 5, 177S, he married Elizabeth Foote, of Colchester. 

- The Rev. David Bradford Ripley graduated at Yale in 1798, and was licensed by the 
Tolland Association, June, 1802. He preached for a year in Lisbon, Newent Society, before 
his call to Marlborough. 

^ The Rev. Doctor Chauncey Lee, son of the Rev. Jonathan Lee, of Salisbury, graduated at 



'^.,a.^AiM,^■. ^U^Cl^ 



xMARLIiUKOUGH. 271 

Bell, 184U-1850 ; Warren Fiske, 1850-1850 ; Alpheus J. Pike, 1859- 
1867. iS. C}. W. Rankin sn|iiili('d the pulpit the most of the time for 
the next four years. In 1871 Oscar 



BisscU was installed ; he was dis- _y^y^ ^^-J^ 

supplied one year, when he was in- >^^^ 



missed in 1876. C. W. Hannu (^/iCCCOy2^^£.iY^ <:::^2£.t/' 



stalled ; he was dismissed in 1879. 

The Rev. J. P. Ilarvey supplied for one year, was installed in 1880, 

and is tiie i)rosent pastor. 

In 1841 the old meeting-house had become so uncomfortalde that 
action was taken with reference to building- a new one. Subsci-iption 
papers were circulated with sucli success as to warrant the undertaking, 
and in about a year the foundation was laid for the new church, two 
rods back of the old mccting-honsc. 

The last sermon was preached in the old house Juno 13, 1841, after 
which, the record says, " It was rased to its foundations, and the 
ground cleared away for its successor." The new house was completed 
and d('(licated JIareh 16, 1842. The society now has a fund of more 
than five thousand dollars, and in addition owns a comfortable par- 
sonage. The present membership of the church is seventy-two. 

The residents of the society worshipjicd harmoniously until 1788, 
when eleven families left the church and joined the Episcojial Church 
in Hebron. Lay service was held for some years in the school-house in 
the soutli part of the town. The Ejjiscopalians never built a house, 
and in 1820 had become so reduced in numbers that lay service was 
abandoned, — the three or four remaining families keeping up their 
attendance at the church in Hebron. 

In 1810 Seth Dickinson and wife and Sylvester C. Dunham joined 
the Methodists in Eastbury ; about three years later a class was formed 
in ^Marlborough, composed of ten or twelve persons ; and in 1816 a 
Methodist church was formed, embracing forty-five individuals, among 
whom were the following heads of families : Seth Dickinson, Daniel 
Post, Samuel F. Jones, Oliver Dewey, Edward Root, Asa IJigelow, 
Sylvester ('. Dunham, John Wheat, and Jeremiah Burden, ileetings 
were held at lirst in private families, and for a while in the school-houses 
in the northwest and northeast school districts. These meetings were 
frequently conducted by such pioneers of Methodism as Jeremiah Stock- 
ing, Allen Barnes, Daniel Burrows. Father Gritlin, and occasionally 
Lorenzo Dow, and were of a character calculated to stir the staid Con- 
gregationalists. Sectarian zeal manifested itself at once, and for years 
a bitterness existed which crippled the spirituality of both churches. 
The Methodist Church was gathered, however, from a class of disciples 

Yale College in 1784. He studieil law, and commenced practice in his native town, but relin- 
quished the legal profession to enter the ministry in 1789. He was ordained pastor in Sun- 
derland, Vermont, in 1790 ; resigned his charge before 1797 ; preached for a year or so in 
Hudson, New York ; was installed at Colebrook, in 1800, and continued in the iwistonite 
there for twenty-seven years. In 1823 he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from 
t'olumbitt College. He preacheil the Connecticut Election Sermon in 1S13. In 1S07, during 
his ministry at Colebrook, he published "The Trial of Virtue," a poetical paraphrase of the 
Book of .lob, which seems to have been well esteemed in its day, though now unknown save 
to bibliographers. While at Marlborough he contributed to the "New Haven Controversy" 
his " Letters from Aristarchus to Philemon," in defence of old-school orthodoxy. After resign- 
ing his charge at Marlborough he removed to Hartwick, New York, where he continued to 
reside till his death, in December, 1842. 



272 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

who having put the hand to the plougli never looked backward, and 
the rapid growth of the church was a surprise to those who predicted 
faihire. 

In 1838 the Union Manufacturing Company fitted up a chapel at 
the village, where they worshipped until they built a church. Circuit 
preachers ministered to the people from 1830 to 1842, when the new 
church was deeded to the Providence Conference, which sent its first 
representative, the Rev. Nelson C4oodrich, to take charge. The cliurch 
has a membership at present of only twenty-four. It has a fund of 
two thousand dollars, and a small parsonage. The pulpit is supplied 
by students from Wesleyan University. 

The Baptist Church was the last to attempt organization. In 1831 
ten persons resident in the town, with three non-residents, called the 
first regular meeting ; Aaron Phelps, Oliver Phelps, and Ezra Blish 
being the leading spirits in the enterprise. Meetings were generally 
held in the Northwest School-house till 1838, after which they were 
held for about two years in the chapel fitted up by the Union Manu- 
facturing Company for the Methodists. The membership increased to 
twenty-eight in 1838. From this time it constantly diminished, until 
meetings were discontinued altogether. 

The people as early as 1757 turned their attention to the education 
of their children. Schools were kept in private houses in the southern 
and western parts of the town for several years. Daniel Hosford 
and others asked permission of the General Assembly to build a 
school-house at the Centre, were granted this privilege, and began build- 
ing the following year, completing the house in 1760. This school- 
house was built nearly opposite the meeting-house, and was the only 
school building in the town for many yeai's. 

In 1833 the Centre School received, by the will of Captain David 
Miller, a legacy of eighteen hiuidred dollars. This was to be held by 
the town, and its income used for educational purposes in this district 
forever. 

In 1841 there were five school districts, — the Centre, North- 
east, Northwest, East, and South, with a total attendance of one 
hundred and seventy-three scholars. An occasional winter school 
for adults, conducted by clergymen in connection with their church 
work, has been the only opportunity offered in town to those desiring 
a higher education. There were in 1884 only four school districts, 
with an attendance of seventy-one scholars. 

The first mills built in the town were grist and saw mills. Mr. 
Robert Loveland built the first gi'ist-mill, on Blackledge's River, about 
a mile north of the grain and lumber mills of the late Gustavus E. Hall. 
The first saw-mill was built by Eleazer Kneeland, in 1751, on the 
same river, in the south part of the town, near the saw-mill of the late 
George Foote. 

In 1840 there were in the town one woollen-factory, one carding- 
machine, two fulling-mills and clothier works, three grain-mills, four 
saw-mills, one gunnery, and two large cotton-mills, which were owned 
and operated at this time by the Union Manufacturing Company. 
During the Revolution the old gunnery owned and operated by Colonel 



MARLBUKOUGII. 273 

Elishii r.iioU did a considerable business in repairing anil manufacturing 
muskets ior those who entered the service from adjoining towns. 

The Marlborough Manufacturing Company, incorporated in 1815, 
built the north mill, and several dwellings for the mill operatives and 
employiJs, when it failed, and sold out to the Union JIanufactui-ing 
Company. This company built a number of dwellings, the south mill, 
and a store, and by ojierating the mills accumulated a large property. 
The whole town partook of the thrift and enterprise of the village, 
finding there a market for wood and [)roduce of all kinds, and being 
aided materially in many ways by this comininy. The cloth manu- 
factured was a blue cotton stripe, and was sold to Southern merchants 
and planters for clothing for the slaves. When the War of the Rebellion 
broke out, the demand for the material was cut off, and the mills stood 
idle for some time. The north mill was destroyed by fire in 18G2, and 
the south mill two years later. Several dwellings were burned with 
these mills, and the enterprise of the town was crippled. 

During the past ten years several large tracts of woodland have been 
cut; the lumber has been shipped to Boston and eastern Connecticut for 
shi{)-buildiug and railroad purposes. Besides this, little has been done 
outside of agricultural pursuits. The land is owned to a great extent 
by a few, who still carry on their farming as they did forty years ago. 
The young people are attracted away by the enterprise of neighboring 
cities and towns, and thus aid in depopulating the town from year 
to year. 

Mr. Jonathan Kilbourn invented an iron screw for pressing cloth. 
The first screw manufactured by liim was used by Esquire Joel Foote 
in his fulling-mill in the south part of the town. Mr. Kilbourn 
invented other mechanical appliances, and was considered a genius in 
that section, as the following lines upon his tombstone, in the neigh- 
boring town of Colchester, will show : — 

" He was a man of invention great, 
Above all that lived nigh ; 
But he could not invent to live 
When God called him to die." 

Inventive genius seems to have slumbered some fifty years after 
Mr. Kilbourn's death, when a number of inventors appear, Henry 
Dickinson being the first. He invented a new fastening for gates, 
which was somewhat used, and a washing-machine. Joseph Carrier 
invented a bread-knife, and Charles Jones a flower-.stand. During the 
past year Charles Hall has secured a patent for a wagon-scat. 

The military history of the town, so far as records and traditions 
go, is of little glory. Worthy Waters bore the title of " Captain" in 
1774, but this probably was a local honor, and the respect accompanying 
it enforced on "training dav " onlv. Few entered the Continental 
army, and few fought in the War of 'lsl2. In the War of the Rebellion 
Marlborough furnished her full i|Uota of troops, though few entered the 
service from motives of |iatii()tism. The only commissioned otlicer waa 
Captain Dennison II. Fiidey, who went out as lieutenant of Com|>any G, 
Thirteenth Connecticut Volunteers. He was mustered in Feb. 18, 1862, 
and served his fidl three years, having in the mean time been pro- 
moted to the captaincy. His only brother, Daniel 15. Finley. who waa 

VOL. II. — 18. 



274 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

a volunteer in the same regiment, died soon after entering the army, 
and was the only ilarlborough soldier who died in the service whose 
body was returned to his native town for burial. 

It is worth recording that among the town offices that of postmaster 
was held by the Elisha Buell family for more than fifty years, and by 
one member of it for thirty -four years ; while David Skinner and his 
son and grandson have been deacons successively iu the Congregational 
Church, their terms of office covering a period of over one hundred 
years. 

The town has been without a resident physician since 1841. Pre- 
vious to that time a number had located in the town for a short time, 
going to larger fields of labor as they found them. The following is 
an incomplete list of those who have practised here : Dr. Hczcl^iah 
Kneeland, Dr. Timothy Woodbridge, Dr. Eleazer McCrary, Dr. Daniel 
Smith, Dr. Lewis Collins, Dr. Zenos Strong, Dr. Royal Kingsbury, Dr. 
John B. Porter, Dr. Palmine, Dr. Spaulding, Dr. Foote, Dr. Harrison 
Mcintosh, and Dr. Lucius W. Mcintosh ; the latter remaining longer, 
and being identified with church and town interests to a larger ex- 
tent, than any other. Marlborough was made a jirobate district in 
1846, having formerly been a district of East Haddam. Asa Day was 
the first judge. 

Epaphras and Ichabod Lord, of Marlborough, were sons of Richard 
Lord, 3d, of Hartford, and Abigail Warren, daughter of William 
Warren. Her mother, Elizabeth, was the daughter of John Crow, who 
married Elizabeth, only child of Elder William Goodwin. Mr. Crow 

was the largest landholder in Hart- 
^_j^*^-— *r ford. Elder William Goodwin was 
t'^"^^ ^L^y^ prominent in the early days, was one 
of tlie original purchasers of Hart- 
ford, a ruling elder in the Rev. Mr. 
Hooker's church, and afterward in the church at Hadley. He died 
in 1673, in Farmington, leaving his estate to his daughter. Mr. Crow 
was in 1659, next to Mr. Welles, the wealthiest man in East Hartford. 
On the death of William Warren, in 1689, Mrs. Warren married 
Phineas Wilson, a wealthy merchant from Dublin, and on his death 
continued her husband's business, and became the most extensive 
banker in the State. Richard Lord died in 1712, aged forty-three, 
leaving a large estate. Four of his five sons lived to grow up, and were 
graduated from Yale, — the two youngest, Epaphras and Ichabod, in 
1729. Their mother married for her second husband the Rev. Timothy 
Woodbridge, and died very aged, in 1753. She gave the church in 
Marlborough a communion-service, whicli was sold in after years and 
replaced by a plated set, to the scandal of the town. Epaphras Lord, 
born 1700, married Hope, dauglitcr of Captain George Phillips, of Mid- 
dletown, and had three children. Upon her death he married (1799) 
Lucy, daughter of the Rev. John Bulkeley, of Colchester, who had fifteen 
children. He represented Colchester in the legislature from 1743 to 
1745. Ichabod Lord, born in 1712, married Patience Prentice Bulkley, 
daughter of the Rev. John Bulkeley, minister in Colchester, 1703 ; grand- 
daughter of the Rev. Ger.sliora Bulkeley, of Wethersfield, and great- 





%^- 



MARLBOROUGH. 275 

granddaughter of the Rev. Peter Bulkclev, of Bedfordsliire, Eiighmd. 
Mr. Lord died in 17ti2, leaving seven daughters. Plis widow married 
tlie Rev. Mr. Eells, and removed to Middletown. Alter his dealh she 
returned to Marll)orough, where she died July 8, 1794, aged eighty- 
four. Her daughter, Elizahcth Lord, married Jolni Eells. Epaphras 
and Ichabod Lord came down from Hartford and purehased a large 
tract of land in Chatham and Colchester. 

Joel Foote, Es(j., son of Asa and Jerusha (Carter) Foote,' and 
fourth in descent ^ ^i n* ^ /^~> / 

Foote, o?'''*W.' tli! A^e^^'^rX^"^^ X^^ 

erslield, was born 
June 2(3, 17G3, in 

that part of the town of Colchester which was set off to Marlborough. 
He was liberally educated, and was probably as good a type of an 
old-school gentleman as any resident of the town. His uprightness 
was proverbial, and his services in places of trust were constantly 
sought. Pie rei)resented the town in the General Assembly twenty- 
two successive years, and from his general prominence won the title 
of "the Duke of Marlborough." He was twice married, his first wife 
being Abigail Robbins Lord, daughter of Elisha Lord, of ilai'lborough. 
who died at an early age, leaving four children. His second wife was 
Rachel Lord, daughter of Samuel I'. Lord, of East Haddam : eight chil- 
dren were born of this marriage. His death occurred at Marlborough, 
July 12, 1846, at tlie age of eighty-three years. 

Ezra Hall was born in 1835. After working u]ion his father's farm 
till he was twenty years of ago, he determined to acquire a liberal 
education, and after a course of preparatory study atWilbraham, Mass., 
and East Greenwich, Rhode Island, he entered We.sleyan University, at 

Middletown, in 1858, 
graduating in 1862. 
He read law in the 
onicc of Judge Moses 
Culver. of Middletown, 
while in the Univer- 
sity, and afterward in 
that of the late Thomas C. Perkins, of Hartford, and after his admis- 
sion to the bar began practice in the city of Hartford, pursuing his 
profession there until his death. He was elected to the State Sen- 
ate in 1863, from the district in which his native town was situated, 
and was the youngest member of the body. He was again elected to 
the Senate in 1871, and in 1874 he represented Marlborough, in which 
he still kept his legal residence, in the House of Representatives. In 
1874 he was admitted to the l)ar of the Su]u-cme Court of the United 
States, and argued some important cases before that tribunal. He 
was taken suddenly ill, and died at Hartford, Nov. 3, 1877, after 
a few days of intense suffering. He left a widow and two children. 
Mr. Hall had attained an honorable position at the bar and a high 

' Asa Foote, youngest son of Nntlmniel Foote, one of the most prominent men in the new 
.settlement of Colchester, was born in tlmt town Muy 4, 172ii. He married, April 26, 17.'>2, 
.leruslm, daughter of Kzra Carter, of Colchester, died Jlay 11, 1"1>9. He was the father 
of Joel Foote, Esq., "the Duke of Marlborough." 



i^?*^.-^^^ 



276 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

place in the public esteem. He was ambitious in his profession, and in- 
defatigable in tlie discharge of its duties. No client ever had reason to 
complain of any neglect of his interests. He was always honorable in 
his practice, and had in this respect the entire confidence of his associates 
at the bar. He had a tenacious will, a vigorous and especially active 
and perceptive intellect, and a rare faculty for the despatch of business. 
He was, however, made for a man of affairs rather than for a great 
thinker, and found his most fitting place in dealing practically with 
Inisiness and with men. With a shrewdness and sagacity of the tra- 
ditional New England type, he was unusually skilful in negotiation. 
During the later years of his life Mr. Hall was a specially growing 
man. An earnest study not merely of the law, but of everything that 
would help him to a higher development of his faculties, was showing 
its fruit. Professional success was still the great object of his ambition, 
but it seemed to gather about itself in his conceptions higher and 
higher moral conditions, — a wider knowledge, a more thorough self- 
culture, a high standard of personal honor. He was for many years 
a communicant in the Pearl Street Congregational Church of the city 
of Hartford, and for a long time one of the most active laborers in its 
Sabbath school. 

Samuel Finley Jones was born in Marlborough. His father, John 
Jones, served in the Revolutionary War, and died, on his way home, of 
a fever contracted in the service, leaving a widow and two sons. His 
widow died soon after, and the elder son went to sea and was never 

heard from. Young Sam- 
(y^ ^ n "^^ "* three years of age 

_/_ y^/tXy"*—^*-^ went to live with his grand- 
^^ /^ father, Samuel Finley, for 

' whom ho was named, and 

lived with his grandparents mitil sixteen, receiving only a common- 
school education. He was then apprenticed to Colonel Elisha Bucll, to 
learn the trade of a gunsmith ; and after serving his time out married 
Miss Annie Strong, and bought a small farm in the northeastern part 
of the town. From this time on he added to his landed property 
rapidly, and for fifty years was the largest land-owner in that section. 
Mr. Jones had also a genius for money getting and keeping, and was 
well known as the money king of that section for many years. The 
Methodist Episcopal Church and town interests found in him a firm 
friend and most excellent adviser. His great force of cliaracter, in- 
domitable courage, and individuality were remarkable. He died at the 
age of ninety years, the last ten of which were years of infirmity. 





;^^$2L^_ 



XVIII. 
NEW BRITAIN. 

BY DAVID N. CAMP. 

NEW BRITAIN is one of the sraalle.st towns in Hartford County 
in extent. It is less than five miles in length, and its extreme 
breadth is a little less than four miles. In the northern and 
western parts of the town, the hills rise to a considerable height and 
the .surface is broken ; in the southeast, the town extends to the mead- 
ows near the source of the Mattabesett. Most of the place is high, 
composed of rolling hills and irregular-shaped valleys. The main 
street of the city is about one hundred and seventy feet above sea 
level at the railway crossing, and more than one hundred and thirty 
feet higher than the railway crossing at Asylum Street, Hartford. 

New Britain forms a water-shed, — one of its streams discharging 
its waters into the Quinnipiac at Plainville and thus passing into the 
Sound at New Haven ; another forming an important branch of the 
Mattabesett, joining the waters of tlie Couneeticut at Middletownj 
and a third flowing northeasterly, uniting with the Connecticut at 
Hartford. Numerous springs and' small streams furnish a supply of 
water for agricultural purposes, Ijut produce little motive-power for 
mills or manufactories. 

The soil is generally fertile, producing good crops in those parts of 
the town devoted to agriculture and gardening. The trap-rock in the 
hills and that which eroi)S out in dilfereut parts of the town alVord 
material for the foundations of buildings, paving roads, and other 
stone-work. A copiK-r-mine in a spur of trap upon the Berlin road 
was once worked, but was abandoned many years ago as unprofitable. 
Lead, asphaltum, calcitc crystals, and other minerals have been found, 
but not in sufficient quantities to be of commercial value. Nearly an 
entire skeleton of the Maxtodon Americanux was dug up some years ago 
on the land of the late William A. Churchill, between Main and Arch 
streets. 

At the time New Britain was first settled, few or no Indians residetl 
there. The Tunxis Indians, from the valley of the Farmington River, 
occupied a portion of the northern part of the place. — Dead Swamp 
and vicinity l)eing a favorite hunting-ground. The Wangunks of the 
Connecticut valley extended their incursions witliin the limits of Berlin 
and New Britain, and the Mattabesetts, apparently a division of the 
Wangunks, had a lodge near Christian Lane, and perbajis anotiier at 
Kensington. The Quinnipiacs njion tiie shore of Long Island Sound 
had extended their dominion as far north as Meridcn, and they claimed 
the right to hunt in a portion of the territory since included in Berlin 



278 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

and New Britain. Members of other tribes sometimes made incursions 
upon this neutral ground. 

The Indians were generally friendly to the English, permitting them 
to establish their settlements near the Indian lodges and to pass over 
the Indian trails without opposition. The English were seldom attacked 
by any tribe or clan in a body, but were annoyed by the thefts and 
robberies of individual Indians or groups, and went armed for safety. 
The Indians, by their knowledge of the country and wild animals, were 
often an aid to the whites. Some of the settlers of N^ew Britain were 
at first accustomed to seek shelter in the fort at Christian Lane ; but 
this was a temporary arrangement, for they soon found that their new 
homes could be occupied without molestation. 

It was not long after the incorporation of Farmington as a town in 
1645, that improvements were made in the southeastern part of the 
" town's first grant," on the east side of the hills which divided the 
valley of the Tunxis from the great meadows on the Mattabesett. Some 
of tliese improvements were within the present town of New Britain, 
and the rude cabins constructed at irregular intervals on the eastern 
and southern slopes of the Farmington range of hills became the 
nucleus of the settlement in that part of the town. 

In August, 1661, the General Court granted to Jonathan Gilbert, a 
former officer of the court, " a farm, to the number of three hundred 
acres of upland and fifty acres of meadow, provided it lie not preju- 
dicial where he finds it to any plantation that now is or hereafter may 
be settled." The next year, or in March, 1662, Daniel Clarke ^ and 

John Moore had four hundred 

//^^ . acres granted to them, and in 

/ >] .,^A 1665 another grant was made to 
Cr C Clarke. These grants to Gilbert, 

'Clarke, and others were chiefly in 
Berlin, occupying a portion of the valley now traversed by the New 
York, New Haven, & Hartford railroad, but extending southerly to the 
northern part of the town of Meriden, and northerly in the valley of 
the Mattabesett River to the Great Swamp. 

In 1672 Jonathan Gilbert purchased the interests of Clarke and 
other proprietors, and made additions to the territory by other grants, 
until he held the title to more than a thousand acres.^ He soon sold 
the most of it to his son-in-law, Captain Andrew Belcher,^ who pro- 
ceeded to improve it by laying out roads, constructing tenant houses, 
and preparing a part of the land for cultivation. This tract, a part of 
which extended within the present limits of Meriden, was sonietimes 

' Daniel Clarke and John Moore were deputies, and also held various offices to which 
they were appointed by the General Court. Clarke for several years was secretary, also clerk 
of the county court of Hartford, member of the committee to treat with the Indians, of the 
committee to ajipoint and commission officers of the militia, and of the standing council with 
the governor and lieutenant governor. His name was spelled with and without the c. 

2 Gilbert was at this time marshal. He had a warehouse iu Hartford and estates "on the 
east side of the Great River over against his warehouse." 

5 Captain Belcher was a wealthy merchant of Boston, engaged in trade with the Connec- 
ticut and New Haven colonies. He owned vessels employed in transportation, anil was the 
agent of Connecticut in purchasing "armes and amnumition" for the colony. He was also 
employed by the Massachnsetts colony to carry provisions from Connecticut to Boston for the 
supply of the army and the colony. His youngest son was governor of Massachusetts and 
afterward of New Jersey. 



\ 




/o2) (X-O-'-^ C^ ^V< G'Ct,'!,'!,^^, 



NKVV BRITAIN. 279 

liuowu as ••Meridecn" or " Moriilcu ; " but this term was afterward 
applied exclusively to tiie soullicru jiart and tiie territory south of it, 
aud the northern part was termed n ^ 

the Great Swamp. It having vd^^Vf ^Vn":^. -/yi £^t%^ 
been foimd that Great Swamp C/ jfTK^ JQ /7 

and vicinity was not included in ^/l )Xii y-tMr~ J^-'i^ /Sf 

•either of the towns already in- 
corporated, tlie General Court, at a sjiccial session held January,, 1087, 

gave permission to the towns bor- 
/'O*^ Cai /?'0 /• . ^-»^*" dering on it "to make a village 
J^na-f- ^ . /&^a.^ri£%: ^^^^,, , Farmington was prompt 

^ in improving the opportunity thus 

presented, and witliin a few months of the passage of the act Richard 
Seymour and others, from Farming- 
ton, were located in the northern C^%n A^c.-iyf <^ a o^ 
part of Belcher's tract, at a jdace ^ zrv^J/lCrn y^z;^ 
called Christian Lane.^ This settle- — 

meat was near the southeast corner of New Britain. Other families, 
which soon followed Seymour and his 
/^rr?e^^3^ C. 'x^ associates, located farther north, on sites 
^^ V ^ jn^^-n\-. no„, ,^.itl,in the limits of the town. 
Among the jicrsons occupying this local- 
ity were Captain Stcplien Lee, 
Sergeant Benjamin Judd, Jo- 
seph Smith, Robert Booth, An- 
thony Judd, Isaac Lewis, and 

others, who were ancestors of many of the 

fi t't^y. ^ (IT) present residents of New Britain. The 

{^Ulfiory Cjui:^^ settlement gradually e.Ktended north, 

L^ occupying East Street, South Stanley 

Street, and a part of the southeastern and ^^ ^j _ 

eastern portions of the present city and '7^^^*^'<c>^ £fy^S 

The first settlements of New Britain were thus in two localities, — 
one in the northern and western part near the borders of Farmington, 
extending by degrees southerly at the base of the Blue Mountain, and the 
other in the southeast part of the town, extending from Berlin north- 
erly on the streets east of tlie Centre to Stanley Quarter. The present 
business part of the town and city was occupied at a later date. The 
residents of the southern and eastern jiortions of the town constitiited 
a part of the Great Swamp Society until 1754, when the new society 
of New Britain was incorporated. 

The original settlers of New Britain were from Farmington, and 
nearly all the adults were members of the church of that jilace, con- 
tributing their full .share for the ]n-eaching of the gosjiel and other 
parish expenses. Tiiey were accustomed on Sundays and lecture-days 

' The act is as follows : "This oourt Ri-ants We«therefeild, Middleton and Farmington 
all those viicant lands between Wallingfurd bownds and the bownds of those plantations, to 
make a village therein." 

* The town of Farmington voted to Richard Sejtnour one pound, and similar gratuities 
to others, for forming this settlement. 



ig uie jiersons occupwng inis loeui- 



280 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

to go to meeting with their families, from four to eight miles, over or 
around the mountain on roads which were little more than Indian 
trails. The journey was necessarily made on foot or on horseback, 
and in obedience to the laws of the colony, as well as for protection 
from Indians and wild beasts, the men were armed. No complaint 
of the distance or inconvenience of bad roads appears to have been 
made during the ministry of Rev. Samuel Hooker, who was much . 
beloved, and was pastor of the Farmington church at the time New 
Britain was first settled. After Mr. Hooker's death, and during the 
long interim which occurred before his successor was settled, the 
people at Christian Lane began to inquire whether they could not 
have a minister for themselves. On application being made to Far- 
mington, the town voted " that so many of their inhabitants that 
do, or shall personally inhabit at the place called Great Swamp and 
upland belonging thereto," etc., might " become a ministerial society 
and be freed from the charge elsewhere." ^ This action of the town 
was confirmed by an act of the General Court establishing a society to 
be called the Great Swamp Society. The new society included the 
families residing in the southern and eastern parts of New Britain. 
When the church was organized, a few years later, the first deacon 
chosen was Anthony Judd, from the New Britain portion of the society. 
For nearly forty years a large proportion of the people of New Britain 
were members of the Great Swamp Society, and attended meeting at 
Christian Lane. The residents of the northern and western parts of 
the place remained with the society in Farmington. 

For a time harmony prevailed in the new society ; but when, forty 
years after its organization, an attempt was made to locate a new 
meeting-house, the elements of disunion were manifested. The society 
had gradually extended its settlement and occupation of farms north- 
ward toward Stanley Quarter, and to the southwest toward Kensing- 
ton Street and the Blue Mountains. After many meetings the new 
meeting-house was at last located and erected nearly a mile to the west 
and south of the first house at Christian Lane. The distance from the 
New Britain portion of the society was considerably increased, and 
the people petitioned for relief. They asked that they might " have 
the liberty for four months in the year to provide preaching for them- 
selves," and " be excused from paying their part of the salary of the 
minister of the Great Swamp parish for one third of the year."^ This 
petition was not granted, and the members of the north part of the 
society continued to pay their dues to the Great Swamp parish. But 
they also continued to petition, until at last in May, 1764, the General 
Court granted the request of the petitioners, and incorporated a new 
society with all the privileges of other ecclesiastical societies, and gave 
it thename of " New Britian." ^ From this time (1754) New Britain 
had a distinct corporate existence. 

> September, 1705. See Colony Eecords, Tol. iv. pp. 527, 528. 

" This petition, dated May 9, 1739, was signed by twenty-six persons, all living in the 
southeast part of the present limits of New Britain. Among the signers were Stephen Lee, 
Isaac Lee, Deacon Anthony Judd, and other prominent men of the parish, some of whom 
had been foremost in founding the Great Swamp Society. 

' The part of the act referring to New Britain is : " And be it further enacted by the au- 
thority aforesaid, that there shall be one other Ecclesiastical Society erected & made & is 
hereby created and made within the bounds of the town of Farmington, & described as 




0//C*;^ c ^^94? 



*^zv3^vx:^^^ 



XKW niuTAix. 281 

For civil purposes, this parish remained a part uf tiie town of 
Farming-ton until the incorporation of Berlin in 1780. New Britain 
was then included in the latter town, of which it was a jiarish until 
I80O, when l>crlin was divided Ijy a line beginning at the centre of 
Beach Swamj) l)ridgc and running north 88° 'lO' west to .Soutliington 
line, and in the opposite direction to Xewington line. The hooks and 
records of the old town ixdongeil to New Britain 1>\- the terms of the 
act. Tlie first town-meeting in the new town was lield July 22, 1850. 
Lucius Woodruff was chosen town clerk and treasurer, and -Joseph 
Wright, James F. Lewis, Gad Stanley. Noah W. Stanley, and Elam 
Slater were cho.sen selectmen. 

At the first State election held after the incorporation of the town, 
526 votes were cast for governor, 51.3 for the secretary of State, and 
517 for memi)er of Congress. Kthan A. Andrews, LL.D., and George 
M. Landers were the first representatives elected to the legislature. 

The borough of New Britain was incorporated the same year as the 
town,— in 1850. It was four hundred and eighteen rods in length from 
north to south, and one mile in width from east to west. The town- 
hall, the present high school building, was the centre of the borough. 
At the first meeting of the borough, lield Aug. 12, 1850. the ofiicers 
elected were Frederick T. Stanley, warden ; 0. S. North, G. M. Landers, 
Walter Gladden, Marceihis Clark, T. W. Stanley, and A. L. Finch, bur- 
gesses. Tiic first meeting of th(> warden and burgesses was held Aug. 
12, 1850. In accordance with the provisions of the charter, arrange- 
ments were made for the better i)rotection of property and the main- 
tenance of law and order. Police officers, fire wardens, a street com- 
missioner, and an inspector of weights and of wood were appointed; 
provision was made l"or the abatement <^f nuisances and for the care of 
the streets, and a watch-house was secured. 

In a few years the necessity of some jirovision for a more adequate 
supply of water was evident; and in 1857 a charter was obtained which 
empowered the borough to construct suitable water-works. Land at 
Shuttle Meadow was bought and cleared, the right of way secured, a 
dam built, and over five miles of main and distributing pipes laid in 
time for the water to lie let on in October of the same year. The main 
reservoir, which covers about two hundred acres, is in the northeast 
corner of Soutliington, al)out two and a rpiarter miles from the city 
park, and about one hundred and seventy feet above it. The water- 
works have been extended and the supply largely augmented, to the 
great convenience of the people and the Ijetter ])rotectioii to property 
in case of fire. 

follows, viz. : South oil thi; Noith bounds of Kiiisiiigtoii palish k Easteily on Wethcrslielil town 
line, as fiir north as the North side of Daniel llart's lot, wlieiv his Dwelling House now 
stands, & from thence to run West on the North side of said Hart's lot to the West end of 
that tier of lots, from tliein-e to run Southerly to the old fulling Mil! so ealled on Pond river 
& from thence Southerly to the east side of a Lot of land belonging to the heii-s of Timothy 
Hart late deceased near 'Bares Hollow," ,t from thciicc ilue south until it meets the North 
line of Soutliington [larisli, thiiice by .'•aid Southingloii line, as that runs until it conies 
to Kensington North line, Kxduding Thoni.as Stanley, Daniel Hart k .lohh Clark & their 
farms on which they now dwell, lying within the bounds above described, & the same is 
hereby create<l & made one distinct Kcclesiastical Society, k shall t)o known by the name of 
' New Uriton ' with all the powers & privilcdgcs that other I'.icUsiastical Societies by law have 
ill this Colony, k that all the ini|n'oved lands in said society shall be rated in said Societ}' 
e.xcepting as before excepted." 



282 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

As the business and population of the town and borough increased, 
the necessity of exercising additional powers became evident, and a 
city charter was obtained in 1870. The northern boundary of the city 
coincided with the borougli line as far as that extended, but the southern 
boundary was upon the town line. From east to west the city extends 
six hundred rods, or one hundred and forty rods beyond the borough 
boundary in each direction. Under the city charter and amendments 
the streets have been extended and much improved ; the police and 
fire departments have been reorganized and made more efficient ; the 
apparatus for extinguishing fires has been greatly increased ; large 
additions have been made to the water-works ; an excellent system of 
sewerage has been adopted, and its benefits have been extended to all 
the principal streets, and in many ways the city has been benefited. 
At the first election under the city charter Frederick T. Stanley was 
elected mayor, C. L. Goodwin clerk, and A. P. Collins treasurer. 

The city government consists of a mayor and common council com- 
posed of four aldermen and sixteen councilmen, — one alderman and 
four councilmen being elected fi'om each of the four w^ards of the city. 
The city clerk and city treasurer are also chosen at the city election. 
The town government, consisting of three selectmen, a town clerk, 
treasui"er, assessors, board of relief, school committee, and justices of 
the peace, is still continued. The mayors of the city have been, in 
succession, Frederick T. Stanley, Samuel W. Hart, David N. Camp, 
Ambrose Beatty, John B. Talcott, and J. Andrew Pickett. 

The first meeting of the New Britain Ecclesiastical Society was 
held June 13, 1754.^ At this meeting it was voted that a meeting- 
house should be built and that jn'ovisioii should be made for preaching. 
Apparently having in mind the difficulties experienced in locating a 
church in the Great Swamp ])arish, the New Britain society applied 
at once to the county court to have a site fixed by its authority. The 
court sent out a committee wliich fixed the site for the new meeting- 
house on the hill about half a mile northeast of where the railway 
statioir now is, near the junction of Elm and Stanley streets. 

The society at its first annual meeting, Dec. 2, 1754, applied to the 
town of Farmington to lay out or alter highways so as to facilitate 
access to the " place appointed by j° county court to build a house for 
religious worship."^ A committee was appointed to procure timber, 

1 The records of the first meeting of this society are as follows: "A society Meeting 
Holden by y" inhabitants of y" Parish of New Britain, Holden in said society on y= 13"" Day 
of June 1754, warned according to y'= Direction of y" law. At y<^ same meeting y^ society 
made choyce of Benjemon Judd Junr. to be a Moderator to lead and moderate in said meet- 
ing. At y= same meeting, Isaac Lee w-as made choyce of for a Society Clark. At the same 
meeting Lieut. Josiah Lee and Lieut. Daniel Dewey & Capt. John Patersou was Chosen a 
Comtt. to order the Prudentials of this society for y* present year. At the same meeting 
Lieut. Josiah Lee was Chosen Society Treasurer for y'' Present year. The officers having been 
elected, the same meeting voted, That it is Necessary for the Inhabitants of this society to 
build a meeting liouse for Religious worship. Voted, That it is Necessary to have Preaching 
amongst us." 

2 At the first annual meeting, held Dec. 2, 1754, a committee was appointed "to aply 
themselves to the Townd of Farmington in behalf of this Society to Desier them to appoint a 
Comtt. fully Impowered to lay out Highways by exchanging or otherwise, as they can agree 
with the oners, & where they judg most convenient for y" accommodating y° Inhabitants of 
this Society, to travail to y* Place Apointed by y« County Court to build a House for Religious 
worship." 





il/Z^ev^.'^, 



NEW BRITAIN. 283 

and boards sufficient for the floor " and tlic outside in order for clap- 
boarding." The size of tiie building, as voted by the society, was to be 
forty-five feet in Icngtii, thirty-live feet in width, and twenty-two feet 
high between joists ; but when erected it was somewhat larger. 

During the spring and sunnner of IToo the timber which had been 
cut from the forests of New Britain was prepared for the frame, which 
was raised in the early autumn. The house was covered with oak clap- 
boards and the roof with chestnut shingles, all jiroduced in the pai'ish. 
The floor was laid early in the spring of IToli, and rough seats were 
procured, so that the house could be occupied for preaching services ; 
but the interior was not llnish('(l until some years afterward. 

This first meeting-house in New Britain was located on the west side 
of the highway, now Elm Street, near a ledge of rocks which gave pic- 
turesqucness to the situation. A grove of trees reserved from the 
primitive forest partially surrounded the place. Roads from different 
parts of the society were altered wlien necessary, so as to converge to 
this locality. An open space in front of the building was termed '• the 
parade," and for more than fifty years was used as the rendezvous of 
the local militia. The meeting-house had neither steeple nor bell, and 
in form was not unlike a large barn. On the east side were large 
double doors constituting the main entrance, but a single door at each 
end also gave ingress to the audience-room. On the opposite side from 
the main entrance was the high pul}iit, over which was a huge canopy, 
or sounding-board, supported l)y iron rods. 

When finished, some years later, a broad aisle led from the main 
door to tiie communion-table in front of the pulpit. Narrow ai.sles, 
leaving the broail aisle near the i)rincipal entrance, passed to the right 
and left around the "square body," intersecting the broad aisle in front 
of the puljjit. Square pews, with vertical sides, against which the hard 
uncushioned seats were placed, with a narrow door fastened with a 
wooden button, filled the square body and were also arranged around 
the outsides of the house. A gallery on the right of the ])ulpit for men, 
and one on the opposite side for women, completed the interior arrange- 
ment. Tlie stairs to the galleries ascended from the audience-room. 

About eighty rods east of the church, on a lane one rod wide, which 
was afterward increased in width and named Smalley Street, the small 
burying-ground was located.^ Additions have been made to this sev- 
eral times, and the large town cemetery with its walks and roads is the 
result. 

For some time after the organization of this society the pastors 
of neighboring churches ofViciated in the parish, — the preaching ser- 
vices, as well as the week-day meetings, being held in private houses. 
The society found it dinieult to (>l)tain a settled pastor. In the latter 
part of the autumn and in the early winter of 1754 the Kev. Stephen 
Holmes preached thirteen Sundays, but was not settled as a pastor. 
During the next three years a numlierof ministers preached for a time, 
and a call was given to the Rev. John Bunnel in 1755, to the Rev. Amos 

• Tlic giounil was part of the Lee farm, aiul tlie lane leading jiast it was ileeilcd to the 
town of Fannington in 1755, by Dr. Isaac I.ee, of Xliildlotown. It is described as being "ono 
rod wide, and half a mile and six rods long, butted east on the highway that rnns by the 
house where my son .Stephen now dwells." Deacon .losiah I.ee, a brother of Dr. I.ee, deeded 
the other half of this street to the town. At a society meeting held in 1755, " Stephen Lee 
was chosen to Dig the graves for y' inhabitants of this society as Xeeil shall require." 



SEW RRITAIN. 285 

Xew Britain. Near the mcctinix-ln'iisc wore tlie •• Sabbath-day houses," 
furnished with a few seats and a table. Application was made to tJie 
town of Farniinjiton for a jrrant of land from the forty-rod highway for 
Jfr. Snialley. The town granted him a traet of twelve aere.s, which 
was upon the west side of Main Street, and extended from the foot of 
Dublin Hill as far south as tiie line of the railroad. The land was sold 
to Colonel Isaac Lee by Mr. Smalley, wiio in 1750 purchased of William 
Patterson twenty-six acres on East Street, with a house and other build- 
ings. This place, known as the I^hodes Place, was the residence of 
Dr. Smalley until 1788, when he bought the house and lot on East Main 
Street, where he passed the latter years of his life. The parish slowly 
but steadily increased both in jjopulation and wealth. In 1785 the 
meeting-house was repaireil and ini])roved.' The improvement in the 
meeting-house was accumpanied by other improvements ; tlie cultivation 
of church music was especially noteworthy. In August, 1786, the pru- 
dential committee was authorized "to draw on the treasury not ex- 
ceeding six pounds for the Incurreging of singing in this society to the 
best advantage." Other approin-iations were made, and in 1789 the 
committee was instructed " to procuer such Instruments of Musick as 
they think Propper and Decent." 

In the autunui of 180!', when Dr. Smalley had reached the age of 
seventy-five, and had been more than (ifty-one years pastor of the 
church, he was at his own rorpiest partially relieved from pastoral 
■work, and a colleague was called. Dr. Smalley c<intinued to preach 
occasionally until September, 1813, when his last sermon was de- 
livered, nearly iifty-six years after the beginning of his preaching in 
New Britain. The pastorate of ^-r^^ /^ 

Dr. Smalley was eventful and fruit- S^t^y^ ^'■/'^ jOjT 

ful, and covered an imjiortant ^^ylfA-:^^ V>'-;^?^^i-^^^ 
period of national history. It in- ^^-y^ 

eluded part of the time of the (/ 

French and Indian War ; the whole period of the American Revolu- 
tion, and of the French Revolution of 1789; of the ri.se of Russia; 
the foundation of the English dominion in India : tlie partition of 
Poland; and of other political changes which affected nearly all the 
nations of Europe. The leading men in the parish were intelligent, 
and well acquainted with the ]wlitieal history and the prevailing 
thought of the times in which they livivl. They sometimes differed 
with their jiastor, and they did not hesitate to express their opinions 
frankly, and at times emphatically ; but the relation of pastor and 
people was mutually kind and affectionate. Dr. Smalley's ministry 
resulted in important gains to the church, in increasing strength and 
iiiHuencc to the society, and in the growth of intellectual and moral 
character in Xew Britain. During his pastoi-ate there were several 
seasons of sjiecial religious interest; the year 1784 being noted espe- 
cially as the time of the '• ( Jreat Awakening." 

Mr. Newton Skinner, a native of East Granby, was ordained and 
installed as colleague pastor with Dr. Smalley, Feb. 14, 1810. Mr. 
Skinner had a settlement of three hundred dollars, and an annual salary 

' " Lieut. John Bclileii, Captain .lames Xorth, Ensign I^wia AnJnis and Elnathan Smith 
were apointetl to shingle anil rlapbonl the niceting-House with pine claboixi and Shingles 
and also CoUer the same with a Ka.shcnable Coller." 



286 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

of six hundred dollars, from which in a few 3'ears he saved enough to 
enable him to purchase a farm. He bought the house and lot at the 
corner of East and Smalley streets, and afterward purchased other real 
estate. He was a good farmer, and by economy and good managc- 
. t /7 /) ,— V mentaccumulated property, 

was inventoried at ten 
thousand dollars. During Mr. Skinner's ministry of fifteen years the 
changes in the place which had commenced in the latter part of Dr. 
Smalley's pastorate were becoming more marked. The present centre 
of the town and city was gradually transforming from a staid farming 
community into a thrifty manufacturing village. Thought was quick- 
ened, new enterprises were planned, the projiortion of young people 
was increased, and society was gradually changing. The first Sunday- 
school society in Hartford County was organized in this parish in 1816, 
and Mr. Skinner was made the first president. 

The revival of 1821 added to the number of church-goers, and a 
demand seemed to exist for additional accommodations for the people 
who were accustomed to attend ])reaching services. A lot for a new 
meeting-house was presented to the society by Isaac Lee, and in 1822 
a neat and commodious church edifice was erected at a cost of about 
six thousand dollars in addition to what was obtained for the old 
meeting-house. This building was located at the corner of Main and 
East Main streets, where the Burritt School now stands, and for many 
years its attractiA'e exterior appearance and convenient interior arrange- 
ments were admired, and its more central location contributed to the 
growth of both church and society. The settled pastors of this church 
have been : — 

Rev. John Smalley, D.D., settled Aprill 9, 1758, died June 1,1820. 

Newton Skinner, " Feb. 14, 1810, " Mar. 31, 1825. 

Henry Jones, " Oct. 12, 1825, dismissed Dee. 19, 1827. 

Jonathan CogsweU, D.D., " April 29, 1829, " April 23, 1834. 

Dwight M. Seward, D.D., " Feb. 3, 1836, " June 15, 1842. 

Chester S. Lyman, " Feb. 15, 1843, " April 23, 1845. 

Charles S. Sherman, " July 2, 1845, " Sept. 5, 1849. 

Ebenezer B. Andrews, " June 26, 1850, " Nov. 12, 1851. 

Horace Winslow, " Dec. 29, 1852, " Dec. 20, 1857. 

Lavalette Perrin, D.D., " Feb. 3, 1858, " May 31, 1870. 

John H. Denison, " Feb. 8,1871, " Sept. 26, 1878. 

Elias H. Eichardson, D.D., " Jan. 7, 1879, died June 27, 1883. 

" G.Stockton Burroughs, Ph.D., " Feb. 7, 1884. 

Among the ministers who have officiated in this parish, but were not 
settled ]5astors, may be mentioned the Rev's Charles A. Goodrich, 
Asahel Nettleton, D.D., Thomas H. Gallaudct, LL.D., Nathaniel W. 
Taylor, D.D., Noah Porter, D.D., and Oliver E. Daggett. 

The organization of another Congregational church in New Britain 
had been contemplated for some time, when at a meeting held June 28, 
1842, it was voted : — 

" That this church unite in calling a meeting of the Hartford South Conso- 
ciation, to assemble in this village on Tuesday, the 5th day of July next, at nine 
o'clock A. M., in reference to forming and organizing a new Congregational church 
in this parish, provided they deem it expedient." 



NEW BRITAIN. 



287 



111 coinpliancc with this request the Consoi'iatioii mot on (lie day 
fixed, and, after hearing those in favor and those ojjposed, voted that it 
was " expedient that another churcli 1)0 formed." After tins action of 
the Consociation one hundred and twenty members withdrew t(j form 
the South Ciiurcli, leaving two iiundred and seven nieinl>ers remaining 
in tiie First Churcli. In 18").") the present large and commodious brick 
church edifice was completed and dedicated. Its favorable location, — 
op|iositc the city park, — and its complete arrangements of chapel, 
pastor's study, and social rooms, well adapt it to the needs of this 
large church and parish. The membership of the church is now six 
humlrcd and thirty-three. 

The South Congregational Church was organized July 5, 1842, by 
the Hartford Soutli Consociation. It was composed of one hundred 
and twenty members, who by ad- 
vice of the council were dismissed 
from the First Church to constitute 
a new church. On the 18th of 
November, 1S42, this church in- 
vited the Rev. Samuel Rockwell to 
Itecome its ])astor. The call was 
aceeiited, and .Mr. Rockwell was 
installed Jan. ■), 1843. After a 
ministry of fifteen and a half years, 
during which two hundred and sev- 
enty members were added to the 
church, he was, at his own request, 
dismissed June 20, 1858. 

Tiic Rev. Coiistans L. Goodell, 
D.D., was ordaiiKMl and installed 
over the church Feb. 2, IS.")'.*. His 
ministry continued nearly four- 
teen years, when on account of 




SOlTll lONUKKOATIoN AI. 1 IllKl II 



288 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Mrs. Goodell's health, and at his own request, he was dismissed Nov. 18, 
1872. During Mr. Goodell's ministry five hundred and sixty-one mem- 
bers were added to the church. The Rev. Henry L. Griffin was ordained 
and installed as pastor Oct. 1, 1873. At his own request he was dis- 
missed Dec. 20, 1877. During his pastorate of four years two hundred 
and thirty-eight members were added to the church. 

In three months after Mr. Griffin was dismissed, the Rev. James W. 
Cooper was installed pastor, — March 20, 1878. The church has never 
been without a settled pastor a year at any one time since it was organ- 
ized. The membership, Jan. 1, 1885, was seven hundred and three, — 
one of the largest of the Congregational churches in the State. The 
Sunday school connected with this church has more than one thousand 
members, and a carefully selected library of over eighteen hundred vol- 
umes. The first house of worship was completed in the spring of 1842. 
It was built of wood, at a cost of about eight thousand dollars. Gal- 
leries were added subsequently. The present church edifice of brown 
stone was comjdeted in January, 18G8. It stands on tlie site of the 
first church built for this society^ 

The First Baptist Church in New Britain was organized June 16, 
1808, with twenty mciul)ers. A few persons had been immersed pre- 
vious to this time, and meetings had been held in private houses or in 
a school-house. These meetings were continued, Avith occasional preach- 
ing services, by ministers from other parishes until 1828, Avhen a plain 
but neat building about twenty feet by thirty was ei'ccted for religious 
meetings. This church was located at the head of Main Street, near 
the foot of Dublin Hill, and served this society for public worship until 
1842, when another church edifice, about forty feet by sixty, was built on 
the site of the present Baptist church, at the corner of Main and West 
Main streets. In 1860 the present spacious and convenient brick 
church, about one hundred feet in length by sixty in width, was erected. 
This building was newly slated and a new organ procured in 1884. 
The renewal of church edifices indicates to some extent the rapid growth 
of this prosperous society. From a membership of twenty at the organi- 
zation of the church, and one hundred and seventy-four in 1843 — after 
the second church was built — the increase has been to five hundred and 
sixteen church members in 1884. The first pastor, the Rev. Seth 
Higby, was settled over the parish in 1828, before the first church was 
built. The settled pastors of this church have been : — 

Rev. Seth Iligby, 1828-1829. Rev. W. P. Pattison, 1847-1850. 

" Nathan E. Shailer, 1829-1832. " Robert J. Wilson, 1851-1852. 

" Amos D. Watrous, 18.34-1836. " E. P. Bond, 1862-18C5. 

" Matthew Bolles, 1838-1839. " W^ni. C. Walker, 1865-1871. 

" Harmon S. Havens, 1839-1841. " J. V. Scholiekl, 1871-1876. 

" Levi F. Barnev, 1841-1846. " Geo. H. Miner, 1877-1884. 

" E. Cushman, 1846-1847. 

Methodist meetings appear to have been held for a time in private 
houses, principally under the leadership of Oliver Weldon, previous to 
1815, when a preaching service was held by the Rev. H. Bass at the 
school-house on Osgood Hill. The first class, of twenty persons, was 
formed by the Rev. David Miller in 1818. The first church building for 
this society was erected in 1828 on the site of the present church. 



NEW liKITAIX. 289 

Tliere had been occasional picacliini^ IjeforL' in scIkihI-Iiohscs ami |iiivate 
houses. The first service in tiie church was a (juarterly meeting held in 
1828, before the interior was furnished witli permanent seats. 

For several years the |)reacher wlm ministered to this ehiuoli also 
supplied some other. In 183'J Furniiniilon Mission and New liritain 
were supplied i>y the same preacher, and in 1840 and 1841 Berlin, 
Farmington, anil New Britain had one preacher for all. From about 
this time the church increased more rapidly in mnnbers, and the con- 
gregation soon became so large that the time of the pastor was given 
to this parish alone. In 1854 a larger and more conunodious church 
edifice was erected on the site of the old church, in 1869 changes 
were made in the interior which much improved the audience-room and 
made the church pleasant and attractive. A parsonage was aLso erected 
the same year. 

The first service of the Protestant Ejjiscopal Church of New Britain 
was held in the academy building on East Main Street. Jan. 17, 183G, the 
Rev. Silas Totten, D.D.j of Trinity College, Hartford, ofliciating. On the 
17th of April a service was held in the same place by Bisjiop Brownell. 
St. Mark's parish was organized Aug. 28, 183(J, the Rev. N. S. Wheaton, 
D.D., President of Trinity College, presiding, when the following ofTicers 
were electi^d : wardens, Lorenzo P. Lee and Ira E. Smith: vestrymen, 
Emanuel Russell, F. T. Stanley, Hezekiali Seymour, (Jeorge Francis, 
Ral])h Dickinson, and Cyrus Booth. The first church building of this 
parish was a small wooden structure situated on the north side of East 
Main Street, near the residence of the Hon. G. M. Landers. It was con- 
secrated Dec. 7, 1837, by the Right Rev. Thomas C. Brownell. This 
building was sold in 1848, and the present chui-ch building on West 
Main Street was erected. The increase of cojnnumicants and the con- 
tinued increase of the congregation made further enlargement neces- 
sary ; and in IS.V.l an addition was made to the chureli, and a chapel 
built, which furnished ample accommodations. From tii(> organization 
of the parish until April Hi, 1887, the Rev. N. S. Wheaton, D.D., oflici- 
ated. His successors have been : — 

Rev. Tlionias Davis, otfieiatiiig, April ii:5, 18.37-May. 1838. 

" JobnWiliia.nsD.D..; J»nc,18.38-Nov. 1840. 

" John M. Cuioii, rector, Dec. 2, 1840-Dec. 29, 1845. 

" CliMrles R. Fislier, ofliciating, .Jan. 184<)-April, 1S46. 

•' Abner Jackson, " " April 19, 1S40- Dec. -j:], 1848. 

•' Ale-xandoi- Capron. rector, Jan. 1849-KasU'r, 18;');'>. 

" Francis T. Russell. '• Mav 6. 18n.5-Jan. 3. 18(i4. 

" Leoiiidas B. Brddwin, •• Auir. 31, isr)4-.hilv 31, 1870. 

" J. C. Middlctoii, " Ai)ril LS, ISTl-Scpt. 9, 1874. 

" Joliii II. D.iinun, '• March 1, ISV.'i-Afarcli :il, 1877. 

" William K. Snowdon. •• Ajiril ID. lS77-:May 1. 1880. 

" John ilcnry Rogers, •• Sept. TJ, isso- 

In 183t) there were but eight communicants; in 1802 there were 
one hundred and thirteen, and in 1883 one hundred and eightv-three, 
with one hundred and twelve families in the parish. 

About the year 1842. by rc(|uest, the Rev. William Stickney, a Tni- 
vcrsalist minister of Berlin, preached in the .school-house on South Main 

vol.. II. — 19. 



290 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Street. Other clergymen of this denomination, at irregular intervals, 
preached in school-houses or elsewhere in New Britain. May 31, 1874, 
the First Universalist Society was organized in a private house. Tlie 
Rev. S. A. Davis, who had been instrumental in the organization of this 
church, was employed nearly seven years as a supply, usually holding 
service once in two weeks. The Rev. M. W. Tabor was the supply in 
1880 for about a year, when different persons preached until 1883. 
The Rev. D. L. R. Libby, then pastor of the Forest Street Universalist 
Church, Medford, Mass., received a call from the society, which was 
accepted, and he entered upon his woi-k in this parisli April 1, 1883. 
The society for some years held their meetings in Odd Fellows Hall. 
In June, 1884, the State Missionary purchased a lot for a chin-ch on 
Court Street, upon which a neat and commodious brick church was 
erected the same year at a cost of about ■ifl3,000. The society has 
increased in numbers during the last few years, and in the autumn of 
1884 had about eighty members. 

Special services in the German language were begun in the First 
Baptist Church in February, 1871, by the Rev. Mr. Dietz, of New Haven. 
The first baptism of a believer occurred May 6, 1871. Mr. Dietz was 
in Germany during the summer, his place l:>eing supplied by the Rev. Mr. 
Kohler. On Mr. Dietz's return in the autumn he resumed charge, as- 
sisted by the Rev. Mr. Rabe, under whose ministry several persons were 
baptized and added to the membership of the First Baptist Church. The 
work was continued, the services being conducted in German by differ- 
ent German ministers until 1877, when the Rev. Charles Schmidt was 
called as a regular pastor. He began his work in 1878, preaching in 
German in the Baptist church in the afternoon of each Sunday, with 
Sunday school in the same place in the morning. The work was 
prosecuted as a branch of the Baptist Churcli until tlie increase of 
numbers seemed to make a separate organization advisable. On July 9, 
1883, the German Baptist Church was formed, and the Rev. Charles 
Schmidt was ordained as pastor. A building lot on Elm Street was 
bought, and a neat and convenient chapel was erected. This was dedi- 
cated Jan. 1, 1884. The Rev. Mr. Schmidt resigned May 1, and was 
succeeded by the Rev. J. D. Weimar, the present pastor. 

In 1841 the Rev. Edmund Mur]3hy, the first priest to attend regu- 
larly the Roman Catliolics, commenced his work in New Britain. He 
was succeeded in 1842 by tlie Rev. John Brady, of Hartford, who took 
charge of this parish until 1848, when the Rev. Luke Daly came here 
to reside. He commenced the erection of the Roman Catholic brick 
church in 1850. This building, eighty-four feet by twenty-five, was com- 
pleted in 1853 and dedicated by the Rev. B. O'Reilly. A transept 
seventy-five feet by thirty-two, and a chancel forty-two feet by thirty, 
were added in 1862. These were dedicated by the Right Rev. F. P. 
McFarland, Oct. 11, 1863. More recently a sacristy forty feet by 
twenty has been added to the rear of the church. In 1877 the brick 
convent on Lafayette Street was erected by the Rev. Luke Daly. He 
died the next year, after a successful pastorate of thirt}^ years. He 
was succeeded by the Rev. H. Carmody, D.D., by whom the parochial 
schools were opened in 1879. These schools have a membership of 
about eleven hundred. St. Mary's parish, which in 1848, on the 
commencement of the Rev. Luke Daly's pastorate, had but twenty-five 



NEW BRITAIN. 291 

families, has now morn tlian six thousand i)crsons. Dr. Carmody died 
in 188:3, and was succeeded i)v the Rev. Micliacl Tiernay, the present 
pastor of the Roman CathoHc Church in \ew Britain. 

The Advent Christian Ciiureh has a small house of worship. The 
Swedish Lutheran Church was orjranized in 1881. It has a settled 
pastor, the Rev. 0. A. Landell, and a new church edifice. 

The children in the families of tln' first settlers of New Britain were 
educated at homo or at tlie town school in Farmington. When in 1717 
the General Court made it obligatory tliat societies should maintain 
public schools, the Great Swam]) Society assumed the responsibility, 
and made provision for schools in different parts of the society.^ On 
the organization of the Society of Xcw Britain, in 1754, this society 
made the necessary arrangements to maintain its schools.^ After the 
establishment of a State school fund in 179"), and the passage of the 
act relating to school societies, New Britain was organized into a school 
society, and this body took charge of the schools. 

When in 1798 the law requiring school visitors was enacted, the New 
Britain school society appointed to this office the Rev. John Smalley, 
Colonel Isaac Lee, Colonel Gad Stanley, Captain Jonathan Beldcn, 
Levi Andrews, Deacon Elijah Ilart,^ ^ 

James North, David Mather, and Cajitain //^^^ J, ^^ 

N. Churchill ; .selecting its most ]>romi- ^^:<^^y^fy^^i'^U:/C\^Ji) 
nent and most intelligent men for this / 

position. Dr. Smalley's name continued ^ 

at the head of the list until 1814, when that of his colleague, the 
Rev. Newton Skinner, took its place. At the time the New Britain 

school society was organized it included four school districts ; namely, 
the East district, with a school-house on East Street ; the Southwest, 

embracing ilain Street and all 

^__^ (7^ the society west from Dublin 

f"^^^ y^, , .^ y] /f/? " 7/t~^ y^ Hill to Kensington ; the North- 

{ J CUy-UJ (/^[^//i £/)r ^^.^^^^ extendin.^ from the foot of 

Dublin Hill to Farmington ; and 
Stanley Quarter, in the northeast part of the parish. In 1803 the school 
committee were authorized to s]tcnd one hundred dollars in each district. 

' A committee .ippointej to inquire into the l)C,st plan for schools in 171 S ri'portod, "that 
the society being so very sciittcrinf;, and our ways so very difTicult for small oliiUlron to p.T.es to 
a general school a jrreat part of the year, we advise that the society lie divided into squaddams 
for the more convenient schooling of children." The division was made, and the money was 
divided to each squadclam or ilisti-ict. 

^ At a meeting helil Dec. Ifi, 17.54, it was voted, "that a school he kept in this society ac- 
cording to laws." A committee was appointed "to oHer the affairs of the school, and to use 
proper endeavors to procure the country money and defray the charges of the .school." 

Ai'conling to Andrews's "History of New Britain," the townsfolk used to say, "Deacou 
Hart knows everything : he knows almost as much as Captain Belden." 




292 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Two years afterward this sum was increased to one hundred and 
twenty-five dollars. The teachers of the winter schools were generally 
selected from the most intelligent and best educated farmers. During 
the summer they tilled the soil ; when the crops were harvested, and 
their labor was not needed on the farm, they taught the winter school 
as a matter of duty, as well as a pecuniary convenience. In the summer 
the young women of the best families were honored by being invited to 
teach, and it was their ambition to teach well. Each school district was 
a neighborhood, like a larger family, where each person possessing a 
knowledge of the affairs of others would contribute to the welfare of 
all. The teacher, being one of the most intelligent and honored persons 
in the district, commanded the respect of all, and by an intimate knowl- 
edge of the home life of the children, and a quick sympathy with them 
in their well or ill doing, was able to inspire to high jnirpose, and to 
develop those intellectual and moral traits which make noble character. 
The practice of " boarding around " with the different families gave the 
teacher additional opportunities of acquaintance and influence. 

In these district schools the common branches of reading, spelling, 
writing, and arithmetic were well taught; and with tliese, a regard for 
good manners and a reverence for age and authority were inculcated. 
If the minister, Dr. Smalley, Colonel Lee, or other honored citizen passed 
the school-house and play-ground during recess, play was stoiqied and 
the children, arranged in line, made profound obeisance. Regard for 
truth and right was taught at home and at school, the jmrents being 
careful to sustain the teacher's authority. If any thoughtless boy be- 
haved so as to receive punishment at school, he was sure to have the 
flogging repeated when he reached home. Such were the early schools 
of New Britain, taught, it is true, in rude structures, and with the lack of 
many modern helps, ))ut so as to give an intellectual and moral tone to 
youth, and with the family and church help to form a generation of men 
and women fitted to lay well the foundations of society. 

In 1807 the Southwest district was divided and the Middle district 
was formed. For twenty-five years the common schools were main- 
tained in the five districts thus organized, — generally taught by men in 
the winter and by young women in the summer. In 1832 the Sliipman, 
or Sixth district was formed from a part of Stanley Quarter ; and two 
years later the Middle district was divided and the North Middle and 
South Middle were formed. In 1838 the Ledge district was formed from 
a part of the North Middle. The organization of the new districts led 
to the erection of several new school-houses, and seemed to awaken a 
local interest which for a time helped to make the schools efficient and 
successful in their work. In a few years the interest abated, and the 
schools were neglected, until they failed to provide the education needed. 
From 1845 to 1848 there were repeated efforts in town-meeting and 
elsewhere liy the friends of education to secure a reorganization of the 
schools and jirovide for their permanent improvement ; but these 
efforts were unsuccessful, until in 1849 an act was passed incorporating 
the State Normal School. By raising a generous contribution for the 
building, and the offer of a suitable model school, the location of the 
Noi-mal School in New Britain was secured. The three school districts 
near the centre of the society were then united, the schools graded, a 
public high school was established, and all were placed under the charge 



NEW BRITAIN. 293 

of the govoniiiiir body of the Normal School as '• model schools," or 
" schools of practice." At the same time the schools of the Central 
district were made free. Thus was established one of the first public 
hiuh schools of the .State outside of Hartford and Middletowu, and the 
principle nf free .schouls was adopted, while in otiior jiarts of the .State 
the rate-bill was nearly everywhere in use. At that time New Uritain 
was a parish of IJei-lin, with less than thiee thousand inhabitants and 
an assessed valuation of projierty amounting to less than a million of 
dollars. To Professor E. A. Andrews, the Rev. Samuel Rockwell, Seth 
J. North, Esq., and those associated with them, the place is nmch in- 
debted for the successful efforts whicli resulted in the establishment of 
a system of public schools, including a free high school, which has been 
so great a bcnclit to the commimity. 

For several years the public schools were successfully conducted in 
intimate relation to the State Normal School ; but as the school chil- 
dren increased and additional school room was required, the connection 
became less close, and after the temporary suspension of the Normal 
School in 1807 it ceased altogether. By vote of the town, Oct. 13, 
1873, the school districts were consolidated into one district, and placed 
under the control of a school committee of twelve persons appointed by 
the town, — the acting school visitor, by law, having immediate charge 
of the schools. 

Though public or common schools were early established, the people 
did not de|)end ujion these wholly for the education of their children. 
Subscription schools, jirivate schools, seminaries, and academies were 
founded and maintained, to provide higher and lietter education for the 
conunuiiity. Soon after the close of the Revolutionary War, or in 
1784, a subscription school was established on East Street, and taught 
by a daughter of Dr. Smalley. Other and similar schools, which were 
independent of the common schools, were held in other parts of the 
society, usually between .short terms of the district schools. The first 
continuous private or select .school of which a record is found appears 
to have been established in 1813, chiefly 

through the agencv of Thomas Lee anil _. <f^ ^ ^ ej>' — v*^ 
Seth J. North. It was taught by Miss Q->"i7^/^^f>7</ 
Almira Hart, afterward the distinguished 

authoress Mrs. Almira H. Lincoln Phelps. In 1828 a private school 

was established in 
the liouse which 
-'^ had been occupied 
by Dr. Smalley, on 
East Main Street. This school was so successful that a school-room in the 
new house of Alvin North was /^ 

erected for it. About the same /=>r>'^ ^^^ a ...^^ ^—/ 

time a company was formed to V^ <^^-^^^2y(~^i^^ <l^OaAX^ 
establish an academy. Samuel Hart. 5LD., Seth J. North, Henrv North, 

and Joseph Shipmanwere 
^y y the largest cash contribu- 

-^ yr7"Z</Oz,'£y^^'t>^^J_^ tors to this enterjirise. 
A two-story building was 
erected near the meeting- 
house, under the stiperintendenoe of Alfred Andrews, the first teacher, 



^^^(/L^u^iL c^^^^'^^ y/Q^u 




294 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



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IN 













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NKW liUITALV. 



295 



who taught for two seasons. lie was succeeded by Nathaniel Grover 
and Levi N. Tracy, botli graduates of Dartmouth College. The school 
increased in numbers, and was for a while a flourishing academy. 
Four young men, all natives of New Britain, entered Vale College from 
this scliool in 1S38. At the time the aeudcmy was exerting its influ- 
ence on the oUler jiupils, an infant school, in the south part of the 
village, was awakening much interest. Previous to 1837, Elijah H. 
Burritt, an older Ijrother of Elihu Burritt, had a private boarding and 
day school on Main .Street, near the site of the opera-house. In 1848 
Miss Tliirza Lee established a seminary for young -, 

ladies at the corner of JIain and West Main streets. y^; ■ (^ 

This was ([uite successful until she married and re- «/'^>^4. iZc 
moved from the place. Several other private schools 
were ])Opular for a time, but all have ijeen closed exceiit the New Britain 
Seminary, openeil in 1870, and St. Mary's |iarochial schools. 




lUE STATE ^OliilAL SCUOOL. 



A commendable interest has also been manifested in general educa- 
tion. In 1838, or before there was a normal school in this comitry, 
four thousand dollars was subscribed in New Britain to establish a 



296 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

county seminary for the education and traininp; of teachers. The 
project was not executed ; but in 1850 over sixteen thousand dollars 
was raised by private subscription to provide a buildinsf and apparatus 
for the State Normal School. Wlieii the General Assembly, in 
1880, voted to erect a new building for the Normal School, the town of 
New Britain appropriated twenty-five thousand dollars toward its 
construction, and occupied the old building with its public schools. 

The first settlers of New Britain were farmers. To the tillage of 
the ground some added the preparation of staves, hoops for sugar- 
hogsheads, builders' lumber, and other products of the forests ; and 
these articles, with the surplus of agricultural products, were sent to 
Boston, to the West Indies, or elsewhere, to be exchanged for such 
commodities as were needed, and not readily produced at home. Flax 
and wool were converted into cloth by the hand spinning-wheel and 
loom, and afterward made into garments for the family. A black- 
smith's shop, a saw-mill, and a grist-mill were located in the settlement 
quite early. A few men worked at the carpenter's trade a portion of 
the year, and a few at other trades. Besides the work of each family 
making at home such articles as were necessary for its own use, and 
a limited production of common tin-ware, there was no attempt at 
manufacturing as a distinct business until after the Revolutionary War. 
Then other blacksmiths' shops were opened for business, and in some 
of them axes, hoes, chains, shovels, and other implements needed in a 
plain farming community were forged. 

Between 1790 and 1800 a few of the more enterprising men began 
to inquire whether the increasing demand for manufactured articles did 
not indicate that goods for other markets could be made with profit in 
New Britain. James North, an intelligent blacksmith and a successful 

^ farmer, conceived the idea of 
"^i^**-*^^ e^ C'^^^/^'Z^^Z^^'^ having a few of the young men 
<^ go away to learn some new busi- 

ness. His own son James and two other yoimg men were sent 
to Stockbridge, Mass., to become acquainted with working in brass 
and other metals. Upon the expiration of their apprenticeship, in 
1799, two of these young men — James North and Joseph Shipman — 
formed a partnership for the manufacture of sleighl)ells. They com- 
menced business in the spring of 1800, in a room of the Sugden 
house, on South Main Street, near the residence of the late Henry 
Stanley. The business proved quite successful, and at the close of 
the year each of the young men went into business for himself. 
James North, Jr., continued in the Sugden house, which belonged to his 
father ; and Joseph Shipman established himself in one end of his fa- 
ther's joiner's shop, on East Main Street. Mr. Shipman's capital of fifty 
dollars was loaned him by the Rev. Dr. Smalley. Some of the sleigh- 
bells made by these men were sold in Connecticut, but a part were 
transported to Boston on horseback, and there found a ready market. 
Seth J. North, a younger brother of James, had learned the black- 
smith's trade of his father, but he went into business with his brother, 
and for a time the two worked in company. James soon removed 
to Cherry "Valley, New York, and Seth carried on the business in New 
Britain. He built larger shops on the west side of Main Street, and 




^JJ^.:^^^^ 



XKVV nUITATN. 297 

much increased tlie aiuouiit; of business. The sliii|i in wliieli Shipnian 
worked burning tlown, he built a lartrer sliop on Stanley Street; and 
afterward, near Judd's mills, he erected more extensive sho])s. For many 
years these shops of Xortli and Shipman were the principal manufac- 
tories of brass goods in their line in the country, and tiicir products 
were sent to Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and other cities. In 1807 
Seth J. North, Isaac Lee, Thomas Lee, William Smith, and Joseph 
Shipman formeil a company for making various articles of jewelry. 
This was i)robai)ly the first instance in New Britain of combining the 
capital of a number of persons for manufacturing purpo.ses. The 
business was cstabli.siied in a shop on the west side of the City Park, 
ne.\t north of tlic site of Rogers's block. Four of the partners had 
previously been separately engaged in making articles from brass and 
tin. Tlie new business was continued by tlic company only three or 
four years, but it served to show what could be done with combined 
capital. 

About 1808 Hezekiah C. Whi])ple, from Providence, commenced 
work in plain jewelry in a small way. He lived on Stanley Street, and 
in a year or two he had a small shop near the corner of East Main 
and Stanley streets, where he made plated harness-buckles, cloak-clas])S, 
and ])latcd wire. In 1812 Seth J. North and his brother, Alvin North, 
entered into ])artnership Avith Mr. "Whipple and commenced a general 
plating business of silver and other wire. They drew out silver-plated 
copper wire to the size required, and then converted it into clasps, 
rings, curb-chains, and other small articles. They introduced the use 
of liorse-power, — probably the first in New Britain employed for 
mamifacturing purposes. 

During the War of 1812 several other shops were ojjened where 
manufacturing on a small scale was prosecuted. The articles made 
were chiefly such as were required for domestic use, — as knives and 
forks, candlesticks, sad-irons, bureau-locks, and other small articles of 
hardware. "When peace was declared, and imjiortation from Europe 
was resumed, most of these shops were shut uj), and manufacturing 
in New Britain was again confined to the .sliops of Seth J. North, 
Joseph Shipman, and the North <fe "Whipple Company. Soon after 
1820 business began to revive; some of the old shops were re- 
opened and new ones were built. From Stanley Quarter to South 
JIain Street these shops, to the number of eight or ten, were located at 
irregular intervals ; and in them brass goods, small articles of hard- 
ware, jewelry, hooks-and-eyes, buttons, glass beads, and some other 
articles were manufactured. Nearly all the work was done by hand, 
with the assistance of a foot-lathe. In the shop of North Sc Stanley, 
on the east side of South JIain Street, horse-power had been introduced. 
By turning the brook now flowing into the Russell & Erwin pond, Jesse 
Hart had scoured a small water-power in a shop where the Baptist 
church now stands ; and the small water-power at Hart's mills and 
Judd's mills had been partiallv utilized. 

Near the close of this decade (1820-1830) and the beginning of the 
next the foundation was laid for some of the large manufacturing 
establishments which have given to New Britain so wide a reputation 
as a manufacturing city. In 1830 "William B. Stanley, Henry "W. 
Clark, and Lora Waters commenced tlie manufacture of machinery on 



298 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

the east side of Main Street, just north of the present railway crossing. 
In the latter part of the year Frederick T. Stanley bought out this 
company and commenced the manufacture of door-locks and house- 
trimmings. His brother, W. B. Stanley, soon went into partnership 
with him ; tlie business was extended and a steam-engine was intro- 
duced. This was the first use of steam as a motive-power for manu- 
facturing in New Britain. The coal for tlie engine was brought from 
Middletown by teams. Westell Russell, afterward sheriff of Hartford 
County, was the first engineer. The business — for a time quite profit- 
able — was continued by the Stanleys until the financial crisis of 1837, 
when it was closed up at this place and transferred to the shops of 
Stanley, Woodruff, & Co. 

In 1835 F. T. Stanley, W. B. Stanley, Smith Matteson, Emanuel 
Russell, Truman Woodruff, and Norman Woodruff formed a partner- 
ship with a capital of $18,000, under the firm name of Stanley, Wood- 
ruff, & Co. A tract of land west of Main Street, including most of 
the territory since occupied by the Russell & Erwin Manufacturing 
Company, was bought, a dam built across the small stream, and a brick 
factory, eighty-two feet by thirty-four, erected for the manufacture of 
plate locks. This was the only factory built by this company, and 
it still stands, — one of the many buildings occupied by the Russell 
& Erwin works. On the 1st of January, 1839, the Woodruffs, W. B. 
Stanley, and E. Russell withdrew, and Henry E. Russell and C. B. 

Erwin became partners in 

// ^r yy the firm, and the name was 

^/''r~€'Ct/i>^ . W^^:^^C^^-c..<£.-,!A^€l) changed to Stanley, Russell, 
// & Co. F. T. Stanley retired 

^ Jan. 1, 1840, and the business 

was continued by Matteson, Russell, & Erwin until Jan. 1, 1841, 
when John K. Bowen, of New York, became a partner, and a new 
company, styled Matteson, Russell, & Co., commenced business for five 




years, by agreement. Mr. Matteson died the next year ; but the com- 
pany continued under the same name until Dec. 31, 1845, when Mr. 
Matteson's capital was withdrawn, and Mr. Bowen's soon after. The 
company was reorganized, Jan. 1, 1846, as the Russell & Erwin Com- 
pany, and so continued until January, 1851. In 1850 the partners 
bought out North & Stanley, William tl. Smith, and several other firms 
in New Britain, and the Albany Lock and Argillo Works, Albany. 
Jan. 1, 1851, the Russell & Erwin Manufacturing Company Avas organ- 
ized, under the general State law, with a capital of #125,000, which 
was soon increased to $200,000, and in 1864 to 1500,000, and is now 



NEW BRITAIN. 301 

81,000,000. In 1876, to the manufacture of frcnoral liardwarc was 
added the manufacture of wood-screws, in a large building erected 
in 1875 for this purpose. Xcw machiner}' has been added, until all 
varieties of screws of brass and iron are made, and also steel nails. 

The Russell & Erwin Manufacturing Company was one of the first 
in this country to make a specialty of liuilders' hardware. The variety 
has been increased until all kinds arc ]ii'i)duccd in large C|uantitics, 
together with solid bronze goods for building and ornamental pur- 
poses. The l)iiildings of this company cover several acres, its business 
being larger than that of any other company of the kind in America. 
Its goods arc sent to all i)arts of the United .States and to foreign 
countries. 

In 1842, in a l)uilding which had been used as an armory, and which 
stood near that of the llussell & Krwin Maiuifacturing Company, the 
manufacture of door and shutter l)oUs, and chest, trunk, door, and Jifting 
liandles, was begun by Frederick T. Stanley. In August, 1852, a joint- 
stock corporation was formed to manufacture wrought-ii-on butts and 
hinges. It was called the Stanley "Works, and commenced business with 
a capital of #30,000, which has been increased at different times until it 
amounts to $325,000. In 1871 the extensive brick buildings on Myrtle 
Street, now occupied by the company, were erected. Connected with 
these buildings are railway tracks to the New York and New England, 
and the New York, New Haven, and Hartford railroads, enabling the 
company to receive the raw material direct at the shops, and ship the 
finished goods to market without cartage. The business has been 
largely extended by increasing the variety and varying the style of 
goods manufactured. By using the best of iron and steel and employ- 
ing skilled workmen the company have been able to com|)ete with other 
establishments and furnish sujierior goods for the market. In 1883 the 
manufacture of tacks, brails, and nails was added to the other business. 
F. T. Stanley was president of the company from its organization until 
his death, in 1883. William If. Hart is now president and treasurer, 
and William Parker vice-president and secretary. 

In 1853 the manulaeturc of plumbs and levels was introduced in 
New Britain by Thomas 8. Hall and Frederic Knapp, in a building now 
used by the Stanley Rule and Level Company. In 1854 a joint-stock 
company was formed under the firm name of Hall k Knapp, with 
•S15,000 capital, which was increased to 820,000 in 185G. The rule- 
making branch of the business was begun in 1854 by Augustus Stanley, 
T. A. Conklin, and T. W. Stanley, under the name of A. Stanley & Co. 
A business in Bristol with which Mr. Conklin iiad been connected was 
bought out, and the manufacture of rules commenced in the upper story 
of J. B. Sargent <t Co.'s factory on Elm Street. The next year the rule 
business of Seth Savage, Middletown, was purchased and brought to 
New Britain : all the works were removed to the upper story of North <t 
Stanley's honk-and-eye factory, the number of workmen was increased, 
and the foundation laid for a new comjiany. 

On tlie 1st of July, 1857, the Stanley Rule and Level Company was 
organized as a joint-stock company, with a ca])ital of 850,000. In 1862 
the handle business of Augustus Stanley, tlien on Arch Street, was 
bought by the company and united with the other works. In February, 
1863, the company purchased of C. L. Mead, of Brattlcborough, Vermont, 




302 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

his entire rule business, which inchided the manufacture of the best 
rules made in this country. For a time the business was carried on 
both in Brattleborough and in New Britain, but it was afterward all 
moved to New Britain, with an extensive warehouse in New York. In 
1864 the capital was increased to -1100,000 ; in 1867, to $200,000 ; and 
in 1881, to $300,000. Henry Stanley was president of the company 
from its organization until his death, in 1884. He was succeeded by 
C. L. Mead, who is president and treasurer. Frederic N. Stanley is 
secretary. This company has largely extended its business by the 
erection of new buildings, the introduction of new and improved ma- 
chinery, and the increase in the variety of articles manufactured. 

The manufacturing company of Landers, Frary, & Clark originated 
with the Hon. G. M. Landers, ex-member of Congress from the First 
District. For a time engaged in manufacturing furniture-casters and 
window-springs with Josiah Dewey, he saw an opportunity for enlarg- 
ing the business, and in 1841-1842 
built a shop west of his residence 
on East Main Street, and commenced 
the manufacture of coat and hat 
hooks and other small articles of hardware. Subsequently Levi 0. 
Smith entered into partnership with him, and in 1853 the Landers & 
Smith ]\Ianufacturing Company was organized as a joint-stock company. 
In 1862 the company purchased the business of Frary, Carey, and Co., of 
Meriden, and the capital was increased to $50,000. Mr. Smith retired, 
and James D. Frary took his place. The company then organized by 
act of legislature, under the name of Landers, Frary, & Clark. The 
capital has been increased to $500,000, and the business enlarged 
until it includes a large variety of table cutlery and general hardware. 
Tlie JEtna Works were built in 1866 and destroyed by fire in 1874. 
Tliey were rebuilt at once on a larger scale, and supplied with improved 
machinery. The Hon. G. M. Landers was president until he retired 
from the active management in 1870. The present officers are J. A. 
Pickett president, G. M. Landers vice-president, C. S. Landers treasurer, 
and J. C. Atwood secretary. 

The extensive hardware manufactory of P. & F. Corbin began in a 
partnership formed in 1849 by Philip Corliin, Frank Corbin, and Edward 
Doen, under the name of Doen, Corbin, & Co. The shop was located 
near the residence of Philip Corbin. The capital was small, and but 
few workmen besides the proprietors were employed. In November 
Mr. Doen sold his interest to H. W. Whiting, and the firm name was 
changed to Corbin, Whiting, & Co. In January, 1851, Mr. Whiting 
sold his interest to the other partners, and the firm became P. & F. 
Corbin. In 1853 the company was removed to the shop formerly occu- 
pied by Seth J. North in the manufacture of hooks-and-eyes. In Febru- 
ary, 1854, a joint-stock company was formed with a capital of $50,000, 
which has since been increased to $500,000. The buildings have been 
extended until tliey cover a large area on Park and Orchard streets. 
The goods manufactured are builders' and miscellaneous hardware, a 
great variety of door-locks, ornamental bronze, door, and house trim- 
mings, and iron and brass screws. Philip Corbin is president and 
treasurer, and S. C. Dunham secretary. 

The North & Whipple Company, one of the companies formed before 



r^' 



%k 




^j^i.^t^^f^ is^//t^^ cL. 



NEW liRITAIN. 303 

tlic War of 1812 wliicli continued liiisincss after the war closed, was 
bouglit out hy Alvin North, wiio for a time manufactured rings, huckles, 
and other metal parts of saddles. Horace Butler was for a time part- 
ner with Mr. North; Imt in 1840 he ijought Mr. Nortli's interest, and 
with his sons estal)lislied the business of II. iJutler & Sons, to whicli 
the Taylor Manufacturin;^; ('oni|)any succeeded. Tiie branch of the 
business continued by ilr. North was afterward jjrosecutcd in company 
with his sons, 0. B. North and II. F. North; the latter associating with 
him Lorin F. Judd and J. A. Pickett, by whom in 1801 the North & 
Judd Manufacturing Company was organized. This company has 
been successfully engaged in the manufacture of saddlery, hardware, 
and malleable iron castings. 

The business of Morton Judd and 0. S. Judd, which was commenced 
with the manufacture of liai'uess hames in 1833, has been contiimed on 
West Main Street by the Judds and C. S. Blakeslee, under the name of 
M. Judd <fc Co., Judd & Blakeslee, and now of 0. S. Judd. 

Tiiere arc a numljcr of other manufactories of hardware of less 
extent than those mentioned, or more recently established. The Hu- 
mason ct Beckley ilanufacturing Company make pocket cutlery and a 
variety of brass, steel, and iron goods. The Malleable Iron Works and 
the \'idcan Iron Works ]iroducc malleable and gray iron castings; the 
Union Works manufacture hardware, ])umps, and machinery ; the 
National Wire JIattrcss Company and the Wirc-web Bed Company, 
wire mattresses; the Corljin Cabinet Lock Company, in the large new 
building erected for its works, cal)inet hardware ; the Companion Sew- 
ing JIachine Company, sewing machines; the Francis Company, cast- 
steel goods ; the Ivem))shall ^lanufacturing Company, bank and safe 
locks and hardware. The American Spring Needle Company and the 
Dyson Needle Company make knitting-needles, and other comjianies or 
(inns various articles and specialties in iron and brass. 

The manufacture of fine jewelry dates from about 1820, when Wil- 
liam B. North had a shop for that purjiose on the corner of Main and 
Elm streets. William A. Churchill was first an ajiprentice with Mr. 
North, and then a partner in tiie business. After Mr. North's death, 
in 1838. James Stanley became a partner, and the firm was changed to 
Churchill A- Stanley. Charles Warner and Charles M. Lewis, engaged 
in the same business, became united with this company in 1853. Other 
partners were interested for a time, and then retired or were removed 
bv death. Tlic business is now carried on under the firm name of 
Churchill, Lewis, & Co., by C. JI. Lewis, W. W. Clmrchill, and F. Wessel, 
who continue the manufacture of the finest quality of solid gold jewelry 
in a great \ ariety of designs. 

Besides the work in metals, which has been the leading branch of 
manufacture in the city ami town, considerable capital has been em- 
ployed in the manufacture of various kinds of neck-wear and under- 
clothing. Seth J. North, John Stanley, and others were for a few years 
engaged in the manufacture of nock-stocks, nuich of the work being 
done by women at their homes. Afterward the manufacture of shirts 
was commenced, and continued mitil it became a large business ; the 
shops of I. N. Lee it Co., Julius Parker cfc Son, and William Bingham 
furnish employment to a large number of persons, and send a great 
quantity of manufactured goods to market. 



304 MEMORIAL HISTOEY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

New Britain has long been noted for its manufacture of knir goods. 
A small factory in Griswoldville having been partially destroyed by fire, 
the tools and machinery which were uninjured were purchased and re- 
moved to New Britain, and in March, 1847, by the efforts of S. J. North, 
H. Stanley, 0. Seymour, and Mr. Powell, the New Britain Knitting Com- 
pany, the first of the kind in this country, was organized Avith a capital 
of !|20,000, which in October of the same year was increased to JifiSOjOOO. 
The company was reorganized in May, 1848. Seth J. North was presi- 
dent, and Henry Stanley secretary and treasurer. Tlie business was 
commenced in the Sargent building, then belonging to North & Stan- 
ley. The capital, at various times, has been increased to $200,000. 
The business occupies the whole of the large building on Elm Street, 
erected for this company and enlarged several times to accommodate 
the increase of machinery and product. The company make a specialty 
of the manufacture of knit goods of various kinds for men, women, and 
children. John B. Talcott is president and manager, and George P. 
Rockwell secretary and treasurer. 

The American Hosiery Company was organized in 1868, under the 
general law relating to corporations. The company occupy three large 
buildings on Park Street, in which are manufactured a great variety of 
knit goods for men, women, and children's underwear and hosiery, in 
cotton, woollen, merino, and silk. The goods of this company deserv- 
edly rank as the best of the kind made in this country. The machinery 
used was made to order in England, and is specially adapted to the pro- 
duction of the finest quality of goods. The carding, spinning, and 
knitting are all done by the company in their own buildings. The 
machinery is driven by an engine of two hundred and fifty horse-power, 
and employment is given to over one thousand jjersons, all under the 
general management of ex-Mayor John B. Talcott. 

The manufacture of paper boxes has for several years been success- 
fully carried on by H. H. Corbin & Son and by James H. Minor. Other 
industries are pursued, but are mostly connected with those already 
mentioned, in the way of supply or preparation of material, or else are 
designed to meet the immediate needs of a rapidly growing manufac- 
turing community. 

Having no sea-coast or navigable rivers, New Britain had no advan- 
tages for commerce, and, with the exception of a few persons engaged 
to a limited extent in the West India trade and in trade with Boston, 
made no effort to establish commercial relations with other places. 
When Middletown was the largest city in the State, a limited ex- 
change of surplus products for foreign articles needed was made in 
that city. Hartford and Rocky Hill were the other shipping ports for 
New Britain. The articles of early manufacture were distributed from 
baskets by foot-pedlers, and afterward from wagons, to the neighboring 
towns, and were ti-ansportod on horseback to Boston, New York, and 
other markets. As business increased, goods were transported nine or 
ten miles to the Connecticut River by teams, and then shipped to their 
destination. The opening of the Hartford and New Haven Railroad in 
1839 lessened the cartage of freight to two miles ; and the extension 
of the Hartford, Providence, and Fishkill Railroad to Bristol in 1850 
gave New Britain direct railway communication with Hartford. The 



NEW BRITAIN. 307 

New Britain railroad to Berlin was opened in 1805, triving direct con- 
nection with New Haven aiul New York ; and tlic New York and New 
Kiifilaiid road w;is cxtemled to Fishkill in Isyl, making connections 
witii roads to the coal-mines and west. All the facilities of comnnuii- 
cation and transportation were favorable to the business of New Britain. 

The lirst store within the present limits of the city was kept b)- 
ElnatJian Smith on East Street, near the Rhodes place. In 1805 and 
ISOii Isaac and Thomas Lee bnilt a store at the northwest corner of the 
tJreen, on the south side of AVest Main Street. In 1823 the Lees also 
built the stone store which is on the west side of Main Street, opposite 
East Main, and is still occupied as a i)lace of business. As the popula- 
tion became greater, new stores were erected, and when the place 
became a manufacturing city, with the resulting increase in the demand 
for articles for domestic use and for business, stores were multiplied 
and goods classilied until there are stores of specialties with stocks as 
varied and comi)lete as are to be found in the State. 

The New Britain Bank was incorporated by the legislature in 1860, 
with a capital of ¥100,000. whieh on Feb. 28, 1863, was increased to 
$200,000. It became a national bank, by vote of the .stockholders, 
April 21, 1865, and in the following August the capital became 
§310,000. On the first organization of the bank C. B. Erwin was 
chosen president and A. P. Collins cashier, and these gentlemen have 
been continued in oflice until the present time. 

The New Britain Savings Bank was incorporated in 1862. Its 
deposits and loans have steadih' increased, until the former amounted 
on the 1st of July, 1884, to 81,409,576. 

Were it not that the manufacturing interests of New Britain far 
surpass all other industrial interests, the place would be noted for its 
progress in agriculture, and for the intelligent api^ication of the prin- 
ciples of science to the cultivation of the ground, the raising of stock, 
and the production of fruit and garden vegetables. There arc some 
good farms so worked as to be constantly imj)roving in value as the 
crops removed from them are increased. Several farmers are already 
noted for the excellence of the blooded stock that they have reared. 
The market-gardens are well known, and their jiroducts find a ready 
market not only at home, but in the chief cities of the country. The 
Connecticut Valley Orchard Comjiany, organized in 1884, with its office 
in New Britain, is already extensively engaged in the cultivation of 
fruit and vegetables in New Britain, Berlin, and Decj) River. The 
New Britain Agricultural Cluli, organized in 1858. mainly through the 
cfl'orts of Kiiliu Burritt, is vigorously sustained, and is dis.seniinating 
information among the farmers and gardeners about New Britain. 



The citizens of New Britain have borne an honorable position in the 
defence of the State and 

country. Several of the y C> ry^ '~~7^ ' 

members and officers of 

the Farmington trainband 

resided within the limits 

of New Britain. JIajor 

John Patterson, the first deacon chosen in the First Church of New 

Britain, held a captain's commission under King George III. He was 



/^ ckTaS^ 




308 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

present at the capture of Havana by Admiral Pocock and the Duke of 
Albemarle in 1762, and died there. His son, General John Patterson, 
was a brigadier-general in the American army during the Revolutionary 
War, and a member of the council tliat tried Major Andre. 

Noah Stanley, another deacon of the First Church, was a lieutenant 
of the king's troops in the French and Indian War. General Selah 
Hart was in 1775 one of the committee to provide ammunition for the 
Connecticut colony, and in 1788 a delegate to the State convention 
for the adoption or rejection of the Constitution of the United States. 
Colonel Isaac Lee, Captain Stephen Lee, Captain Phineas Judd, and 

many others were active in military 

(ffS^ . / yyC5X^ matters in the Revolutionary War. 

sj^ hyO'n^^nuScj WciZtr Colonel Gad Stanley was one of the 

officers who with his troo]js covered 
Washington's retreat from Long Island. Captain Lemuel Hotchkiss, 
who was with Colonel Stanley, had a horse shot under him in that 
retreat. 

In the War of 1812 only a few citizens of New Britain were specially 
distinguished, but a number bore an honorable part. Isaac Maltby, a 
member of the First Church and a divinity student of Dr. Smalley, was 
brigadier-general in that war. Ezckiel Andrews was a captain in the 
same war, and some other members of this church had a less conspicu- 
ous part in the struggle. 

In the Civil War, which occurred during President Lincoln's admin- 
istration, there were six hundred and forty volunteers from New Britain, 
of whom eighty fell in battle, were wounded and died of their wounds, 
or were sick and died in hospitals or Southern prisons. Among those 
who participated actively in this war were some who were promoted to 
posts of distinction, and by bravery and heroic fortitude won an honor- 
able name. 

A public library was established in New Britain quite early in the 
history of the place, and the books were in general use among the pro- 
prietors. Some inconvenience having been experienced in the general 
management, at a special meeting of the proprietors, held Feb. 2, 1792, 
a new constitution with eight long articles was adopted.' By this 
instrument each member at the time of subscribing was to pay the sum 
of three shillings, and two shillings annually afterward. The rights 
of members were carefully guarded, were assignable to any person 
approved by the majority of the proprietors, and the shares could be 
devised by will or descend by inheritance. Five directors, chosen an- 
nually, had the general care of the library, purchased books, and made 
by-laws and regulations for the use of the library. Though this was 
not a church library, it was considered an aid to parish work. It was 
kept at the church, or at the house of Deacon Judd. It was open on 

1 Some of the provisions of tlie constitution and by-laws were strict. For every leaf 
folded down in any book there was a fine of threepence, and for any other injury a fine in 
proportion to the injury. The eighth and last article of the constitution declared that the 
articles taken together were to be considered a "Magna Charta," and were not to be re- 
pealed, either together or in part, except by the votes of three fourths of those present at a 
meeting warned for that purpose, when said three fourths "shall amount to more than one 
half of all the proprietors for the time being." There were fifty-six subscribers to this consti- 
tution, the list being headed by Dr. Smalley. 



NEW BRITAIN. 309 

the days of the conference meetings, or of the lecture before commun- 
ion, for an hour or two before or after such meetings, and the pastor. 
Dr. Smalley, tooic special pains to have the books well distributed, and 
read bv those who would be iirofited by the reading. 

The library association continued in active o])eration until 1825, 
when it was succeeded by the Julian Society, — a similar association, 
which had at lirst about thirty-live menibcis, but was soon increased to 
one hundred and fifty. New books were added to tjie library, the 
drawino: days were more frequent, and meetings for debate were also 
held once in two weeks. In the autumn of 1836 the constitution was 
again amended and the name of the association changed to the New 
Britain Lyceum. The library and effects of the Julian .Society passed 
into the hands of the new association. To the measures for improve- 
ment already employed was added a course of lectures. By means of 
the library, the lectures, and discussions, the intellectual culture of the 
community was advanced. This association was maintained with vigor 
until the autumn of 1841, when its record was suddenly closed, the 
books were distributed or lost, and the society ceased to exist. 

Soon after the organization of the South Congregational Church a 
parish library was established, which had, in February, 1846, over four 
hundred volumes, — princijially of biography, history, travel, and prac- 
tical science, with a few religious W(u-ks. Additions were made until 
the library included over si.x hundred volumes, wliich were kept in the 
vestry when not in use liy niendjcrs of the congiegation. This was for 
a time ]K)pular and usefid to the church ; but the multiplication of 
Sunday-school books and the increa.se of the Sunday-school library made 
this library less necessary to the jiarish, and the books were transferred 
to the shelves of the New Britain Institute, to increase the usefulness 
of the public library. 

The New Britain Institute was established in 1852, to provide a 
public library and reading-room for a growing manufacturing commu- 
nity, and also to arrange for lectures or other means uf entertainment 
and instruction. It was incorporated by the legislature in 1858. For 
some years it was maintained by the annual sub.scriptions of manufac- - 
turing companies and individuals. It received a legacy of ten thousand 
dollars from the late Lucius WoodrulT, the income of which, with a 
small town a])propriation and membership fees, pays the annual ex- 
penses and admits of small additions each year to the library. The 
reading-rooms are well sup])lied with daily and weekly ]):iiicrs, maga- 
zines, and other ]ieriodicals, and are free to all. For taking books 
home from the liljrary there is the annual charge of one dollar. 

The Rev. John Smalley, D.D., was born in the Columbia parish 
of Lebanon, June 4, 1734. His father, Benjamin Smalley, was an 
English weaver in humlile circumstances, who came to this country 
in early life. His motlier, the second wife of Benjamin Smalley, was 
ilary Baker, of Cornwall, a devotedly pious woman, under whose 
inlluence his earlier life was passed in the quiet of a country home. 
Whdc young he was placed in a shop to learn a trade ; but his pa.stor, 
the Rev. Eleazer AVheelock, D.P., afterward the first jiresident of Dart- 
mouth College, liecanu^ interested in him and offered to fit him for 
college. He pursued his studies with Dr. Wheelock, entering Yale 



310 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

College in 1752, at the age of eighteen. While he was in college his 
father became pecuniarily embarrassed and died suddenly, leaving his 
family dependent, and John decided to leave college to assist in their 
support ; but he was advised to proceed with his studies, and by the 
assistance of friends was enabled to do so. He graduated in 1756, 
and immediately entered upon the study of theology Avith the Rev. 
Joseph Bellamy, D.D., of Bethlehem. He was licensed to preach Ijy 
the Litchfield South Association in 1757, began to preacli in New 
Britain in November of that year, and was ordained and installed over 
the church April 19, 1758, the day that the church was organized. He 
soon won the confidence of his people and was beloved and revered. 
He was married, April 24, 1764, to vSarah Guernsey, of Bethlehem. 
He had six children, all daughters, two of whom died in infancy. Two 
of the others married clergymen, and two were married to parishioners 
of their father. Dr. Smalley was a diligent student. He took great 
pains, in preparing his sermons, to aim at a specific impression, and to 
lead his hearers to God as the source of all good. His sermons were 
logical, dwelling much upon the doctrines, and fortified by proofs from 
the Scriptures. He preached by reading his notes closely, with some- 
what of formality and a slightly drawling utterance. He had no popu- 
lar oratory, and he heartily despised all tricks of art with a view to 
attract the attention of his audience. He was scrupulously punctual, 
exceedingly vigilant, and ever watchful of the interests of his parish. 
During his pastorate of fifty-two years the cluirch increased in numbers 
and in spirituality, and the whole parish was stimulated in thought. 
He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the College of New 
Jersey in 1800. He became eminent as one of the foremost of New 
England divines, wielding a commanding influence. His sei'mons on 
Natural and Moral Inability were published in this country and in 
Europe, and had a wide circulation. Two volumes of his sermons were 
published. He also wrote occasionally for i-eligious periodicals. Sev- 
eral young men were educated in his family, some of whom he trained 
for the ministry. Among the private students who owed much of their 
success to his training, were Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth, the Rev. 
Nathaniel Emmons, D.D., Ebenezer Porter, D.D., the President of An- 
dover Seminary, and about twenty others, some of whom became emi- 
nent in their work. Dr. Smalley continued his duties as pastor until 
tlie autumn of 1809, and i)reaclied occasionally until 1813. He died in 
the midst of his people, June 1, 1820, at the age of eighty-six. 

Ethan Allen Andrews was born in New Britain, April 7, 1787. He 
was the youngest of four children, and passed his early years on the 
farm of his father, a man of English descent, in easy circumstances, and 
of much general information. Surrounded with books, and of a natu- 
rally inquiring mind, young Andrews resolved to seek a liberal edu- 
cation. He commenced his preparation for college at Berlin, and 
continued it at Farmington under the tuition of the Rev. Noah Por- 
ter, D.D., and Samuel Cowles, and completed it at Litchfield under 
instruction of the Rev. J. M. Whiton, D.D. He entered Yale College in 
1806, and graduated with Governor Ellsworth and Professors Fitch and 
Goodrich. On leaving college he entered upon the study of law in the 
ofiice of his former teacher, Samuel Cowles, of Farmington. He com- 
menced the practice of law in New Britain in 1812, and was admitted 




c^ (J^-^'Hu^ 



^ 



NEW BRITAIN. 311 

to flio Hartford liar in ISKl Ho was soon after appointofl aid to Gen- 
eral Lusiv in the service of tlie war with Ku<rland, and passed most of 
the summer at New London. He returned from service in tlic army to 
tlic practice of his profession in New liritain. Soon after, lie opened a 
school in his own home, wliere lie fitted young men for colie<re. He 
was several times elected to the leirislature from the town of Berlin, 
and represented New Britain the first year after the town was incorpo- 
rated. He was also for two years Judge of Probate. In 18:22 he was 
appointed Professor of Ancient Languages in the University of North 
Carolina. For six years he filled this |)osition with distinguished aljil- 
ity. and then returned to Connecticut to accept the professorsliip of 
Ancient Languages in the New Haven Ciymnasium. After continuing 
a year in this institution, he cstaljlishefl the New Haven Young Ladies' 
Institute. He eondiieted this so successfully as to call together jnipils 
from nearly all ]iarts of the L'nion. In 1833 he removed liis family to 
Boston and succeeded Jacob Abliott in the care of a school of high order 
for young ladies. He continued in charge of this school for six years, 
when he resigned to give more of his time to the course of Latin au- 
thorship which he had already commenced. He was for a time senior 
editor of the '• Religious Magazine," and a contributor to other jieriodi- 
cals. On leaving Boston with his family, he again became established 
in New Britain at the old homestead. This, in the mean time, had 
received extensive alterations to prepare it for his family residence. 
His time was now principally devoted to the revision of his Latin 
books. His most elaborate work was his Latin-English Lexicon ; but 
his " First Lessons in Latin," of which thirty-four editions had been 
published in 18G2, "First Latin Book," Latin (irammar, Ijatin Reader, 
and the adaptation of several Latin authors as school text-liooks, gave 
evidence of his indefatigaljle industry. He received the degree of Doc- 
tor of Laws from Yale College in 1847. Though absorbed in classical 
studies, he was fond of the sciences, and investigations in them were 
to him pleasant recreation. He had good taste, and possessed a keen 
relish for the beautiful in nature and art. He took an active interest 
in all matters pertaining to education, was for many years upon the 
town board of school visitors, was president of the Educational Fund 
Association organized to secure a building for the State Normal School, 
and made the ollicial presentation to the State of the buildings erected 
by citizens of New Britain for that purjiose. He was interested in all 
measures which alTected the welfare of his native town, and advocated 
successfully the jjroject for securing better railway facilities and other 
measures foi- the im])roveinent of tlie place. He was a member of the 
South Congregational Church, New Britain. The later years of his life 
were passed at his home in the circle of friends by whom he was esteemed 
and beloved. He died March 24, 18.")S, aged seventy-one. 

Frederick Trcnck Stanley was Iku-u in New Britain, Aug. 12, 1802. 
His father, Gad Stanley, was a son of Colonel Gad Stanley, an ofli- 
cer in the Revolutionary army and a civil magistrate of note. F. T. 
Stanley passed his childhood on the farm in Stanley Quarter, attend- 
ing school near his home a part of the time. At sixteen years of age 
he went into a store in New Haven as clerk, and remained there until 
1823, when he removed to Fayetteville, North Carolina. At this place 
he was enijased in mercantile business for three vears, and fiien sold 



312 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

out and returned to the North. For a year or two he was clerk on a 
steamboat making trips from Hartford to New York. After return- 
ing to New Britain he was for a short tune clerk in the store of 0. R. 
Burnham, and in 1829 was engaged in mercantile trade with Curtiss 
Whaples. In 1830 he was associated with his brother William B. 
Stanley, H. W. Clark, and Lora Waters, in a small manufactory on 
Main Street, near the present railway crossing. He bought out his 
partners in 1831 and commenced the manufacture of locks, the first 
made in this country. He also introduced the first steam-engine used 
for manufacturing purposes in New Britain. In 183.5 he became a 
partner in the firm of Stanley, Woodruff, & Co. and entered more 
extensively upon the manufacture of locks of various kinds. In 1841 
he sold out his interest in the latter company, and for the next two 
years was in business in the State of Mississippi. Upon his return to 
New Britain he engaged in the manufacture of bolts and hinges in 
a shop near his house. The business increased rapidly, and in 1852 
a joint-stock company was formed, of which he became president. He 
was continued in this office imtil his death, — a period of more than 
thirty years. In business Mr. Stanley was methodical, energetic, and 
progressive, but he never made the acquisition of property his sole 
aim. His generous nature led him to give liberally, both of time and 
means, for the benefit of others. His publrc spirit, especially, led him 
often to place the welfare of the town and city before his private in- 
terests. He planned the city water-works, and by unceasing energy 
and indomitable perseverance secured the adoption of his plans and 
the introduction of Sliuttle Meadow water into the city. He was one 
of the prominent movers in securing the town park and having it set 
apart for public. uses. He was active in promoting the various railway 
enter])rises whieli have so much benefited New Britain, and the first 
engine run on the Berlin brancli bore his name. He earnestly advo- 
cated the system of sewerage finally adopted for the city, and was per- 
sonally active in making the preliminary arrangements for its use. 
He represented the town of Berlin in the legislature in 1834, was in 
1850 elected the first warden of the borough of New Britain, and in 
1871 the first mayor of the city. He was interested in the affairs of 
the country, and though never an active politician, he was well in- 
formed on all national questions. An ardent admirer of Daniel Web- 
ster, he often travelled long distances to hear him speak. Mr. Stanley 
was a consistent member of the South Church, attending its services 
after his eyesight had entirely failed and liis steps had to be guided by 
another. He was married, July 4, 1838, to Miss Melvinia A. Chamber- 
lain. There were three children born to them, two of whom died in 
childhood. The surviving son, Mr. Alfred H. Stanley, resides at the 
liomestead, where his father died, Aug. 2, 1888. 

Elihu Burritt, the youngest son of a family of ten children, was 
born in New Britain, Dec. 8, 1810. His parents having but little prop- 
erty, he was early dependent upon his own resources. In his boyhood 
he attended the district school a part of the time, until he apprenticed 
himself to a blacksmith, still studying in his room at night, and often 
at the anvil. When twenty-one he attended his brother's private 
school for one quarter, giving his attention chiefly to mathematics, but 
occupying his odd hours with Latin and French. At the close of the 



NKW nUITAIX. 313 

quarter he resumed work at liis trade, liut still pursued his studies 
at every favuraMe monieut, earryiujj; a small CJrcek (iramuiar iu his 
pocket or hat, which he would study while at work. The next winter 
he passed at New Haven, that he miuht lie in the vicinity of books and 
scholars. He continued the study of Latin and Greek, pving some 
attention also to Freneh, .Spanish, Italian, Oerman, and Hebrew. He 
then became preceptor in an academy for a year, teaching the lan- 
guages, and also continuing his studies. His health failing from too 
close confinement, ho was led to accept a position as commercial trav- 
eller for a factory in New Britain. At the solicitation of friends he 
returned to New Britain and o|)eued a grocery and provision store ; but 
in the liuaueial panic of lS-">7, which soon came, he lust his property. He 
resolved to return to his trade and his studies, and went to Worcester, 
where he had access to the valuable library of the Antiquarian Society. 
Here he divided his hours between work and study, giving his atten- 
tion to Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldaic, .Samaritan, Ethiopic, and the 
modern languages of Europe. A letter in the Celto-IJreton language, 
written by him to the Royal Anticpiarian Society of France, is sup- 
posed to be the first in that language ever written from America. 
He soon became known as " the Learned Blacksmith," and invitations 
to lecture came from various ]iarts of the country. For the next few 
years his time was occupied princiijally in lalior at the anvil and in 
lecturing. He spoke upon Application and Genius, then in the Anti- 
slavery cause and in the cause of peace and humanity. In May, 1846, 
he went to Europe, proposing to be absent three months, but remained 
three years. Ho addressed large audiences in England and Ireland, 
visiting the latter country during the famine of l84t)-lS47. He was 
a vice-president of the Peace Congress held in Brussels in September, 
1848. He also attended the great meeting at Exeter Hall in June, 1849, 
and was secretary of the Peace Congress held in Paris the same year. 
Returning to America early in 18.30, he lectured in ditTerent parts of 
this country, but went to Europe again in May to prejiare for the ap- 
proaching Peace Congress at Frankfort. He was also a member of the 
Fourth Congress held at Exeter Hall, London, in 18.31, and afterward 
was engaged with the friends of peace in ])romoting the interests of 
tile fjeague of Universal Brotherhood. His work in Europe brought 
him into association with Richard Cobdeii, John Bright, Dr. Guthrie, 
Joseph Sturge, M. de Tocqueville, Victor Hugo, Alexander Von Hum- 
boldt, Professor Liebig, Tholuck, Hengsteuberg, and others, some of 
whom became his intimate friends. 

Immediately after the Edinburgh Peace Congress of 18.53 he re- 
turned to America, and here addressed public meetings in behalf of 
ocean penny jiostage. He jwssed three months in Washington, inter- 
esting memliers of Congress in the measure. In August, 1854, he went 
to England again for a year. On his return to America he devoted 
considerable time to lecturing and addressing public audiences on the 
subject of Com])eiisated Emaneiiiation, and was secretary of the asso- 
ciation organized in this interest in 18;5G. He passed several years on 
his farm in New Britain, visiting Europe in 18()8, and making journeys 
on foot the whole extent of Englaiul and Scotland, gathering material 
for two interesting books, '• A W;ilk from Loiidiui to John G'Groat's," 
and "A Walk from London to Land's End and Back,'' which were pub- 



314 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

lished in London. In 1865 he was appointed Consular Agent for the 
United States at Birmingham. In connection with his duties in this 
office he collected statistics of the Birmingham district, which he pub- 
lished in a volume entitled " Walks in the Black Country and its Green 
Border Lands." He soon after wrote another volume, entitled " The 
Mission of Great Sufferings." After leaving his office he passed six 
weeks at Oxford, returning to America in 1870. From that time he 
lived in New Britain, in the family of his sister, Mrs. Strickland, giving 
much of his time to the advancement of education, the improvement of 
agriculture, and the promotion of the public welfare. He established a 
mission school in a building on his farm on Burritt Hill, and another 
in the southern part of the city in a chapel liuilt at his expense and 
mostly by his own hands. He was a member of the First Church of 
Christ in New Britain. Ho died March 6, 1879, aged sixty-eight. 

Seth J. North was born in New Britain, Aug. 13, 1779. In youth 
he worked in the blacksmith's shop with his father, but soon after he 
was twent3--one years of age he engaged in the manufacture of sleigh- 
bells with his brother James. He continued the business after his 
brother removed from town, building new shops and adding to the 
articles manufactured. From 1807 to 1811 he was a partner with 
Thomas Lee and several others in the mamifacture of jewelry. In 
1812 he entered into partnership with a younger brother, Alvin North, 
and H. C. Whipjile in making plated wire, etc. He was afterward 
associated with John Stanley, William H. Smith, Henry Stanley, and 
Oliver Stanley in various manufactures. For several years before his 
death he was successfully engaged in the manufacture of hooks and 
eyes and knit goods. In 1847 he was largely instrumental in the organi- 
zation of the New Britain Knitting Company, and Avas its president 
from that time until his death. He was one of the projectors and origi- 
nal stockholders of the Hartford and New Haven Railroad, and also 
of the Hartford, Providence, and Fishkill Railroad. He took an active 
interest in military affairs, became a major in the War of 1812, and was 
after known as " Major North." He was active in securing the or- 
ganization of the South Congregational Church in 1842, in procuring 
its first place of worship, and in providing means for the support of 
preaching. He was a friend of education, assisting in the establish- 
ment of schools and academies, and taking a prominent part in the 
founding of the State Normal School and securing its location in New 
Bi-itain. He loved business, was wise in planning, and nearly always 
successfid in his business projects, and at his death was one of the 
wealthiest men in Hartford County. He was public-spirited, liberal in 
his benefactions, doing much for the church with which he was con- 
nected and for the community in which his life was passed. He died 
March 10, 1851, aged seventy-one. 
NJ Henry Stanley was born in Stanley Quarter, New Britain, Sept. 24, 
1807. After completing his school education at Monson Academy, 
Mass., he Avas for a time a clerk in a dry-goods store in Hartford. 
Returning to New Britain, he commenced the study of medicine with 
Dr. Samuel Hart, but was soon induced to relinquish study for more 
active employment. He was engaged in naanufacturing with Alviu 
North for a short time, and then went into company with Seth J. 
North and William H. Smith, in the firm of North, Smith, & Stanley. 




'^Z?/^ 




NEW BRITAIN. 



315 



After -Mr. Siuitli withdrew, the firm continued as North <fe Stanley. 
Mr. Slaidey ai'lerward wa.s in comiianv with his hrotlicrs, Augustus 
and T. W. Stanley, in the lirni of 11. Stanley ct Co. In 1847 he aided 
in the introduction of the manufacture of knit goods into New Britain, 
and became sccivtary, treasurer, and supei'intcndent of the New Britain 
Knitting Company. IJe was interested in many of the manufacturing 
cstal>lishments of New Britain and Hartford, and in sonic elsewhere. 
At the time of his death he was president of the American Hosiery 
Company, the Stanley iiule and Level Comi)any, and the Stanley Works, 





i^^^lisr 






WORKS OF TUE STAM.KV IMl.i: AM) LE\i:i, tOMI'.i^XY. 

and director in several other com])nnies. Naturally conservative, his 
cool judgment and intelligent counsel often helped to guide the actions 
of those associated with him. He was one of the founders of the 
South Congregational Church, and for many years a member of the 
standing committee, and clerk of the ecclesiastical societv. He died 
May 3, 1884. 

"William H. Smith was horn in New Britain. Oct. 22, 1800. His 
life was passed in his native place, which he saw transformed from a 
quiet country parish (if a few hundred inhaliitants to an active, thriving 
city of as many thousands. In business he was tirst associated with 
Setli J. North and Henry Stanley, under the lirm name of North, Smith, 
<fc Stanley, the loading brass-founders of the village. He afterward 
withdrew from this lirm, and in 1851 his own business was merged in 
the Russell »t Erwin Manufacturing Company. Though not actively 
engaged in business during the later years of his life, he was interested 
in the jirincipal manufacturing companies of New Britain, and a direc- 
tor in several of them. He was jiresident of the New Britain Savings 
Bank from its organization until his death, and a director in the New 
Britain National Bank. He was for a time warden of the borough, and 
filled wiih acceptance other civil oflices. In all these positions his 
fidelity and conscientious attention to the trusts committed to him won 
the respect and eoulidence of the comnnniity. He became a member 



316 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

of tlie First Church m New Britain in 1829. He withdrew from this 
church in 1842 to unite with others in the organization of the South 
Congregational Church, of which he was a member until his death. For 
fifteen years as a member of the standing committee, and for the last 
eight years of his life as deacon, he faithfully served the church. 
Though modesty and diffidence characterized his public life, he did not 
shrinlv from l^nown duty. He was liberal in gifts to benevolent objects, 
sympathetic, but discriminating and judicious in rendering aid to the 
poor and unfortunate. His genial nature, uniform cheerfulness, and 
sincere regard for others won for him a large circle of friends. He 
died Aug. 20, 1873. Mr. Smith may be taken as a worthy type of 
the class of men who by their enterprise and fidelity promoted the 
growth of their native place, — a town richer in the character of its men 
than in its natural resources. 

Cornelius B. Erwin was born in Booneville, New Yoik, June 11, 
1811. In his youth he worked in his father's tannery and shoemaker's 
shop, but on attaining his majority he sought more active employ- 
ment. In 1832, with but five dollars in money, he left home as assist- 
ant to a di'over, and came to Hartford with a consignment of horses. 
He soon sought and found work in New Britain, and with the exception 
of a short absence in 1833, for another consignment of horses, he made 
this place his home for the remainder of his life. He was for a short 
time in the employ of North & Stanley, then a partner in the firm 
of W. H. Bclden & Co., and in 1836 went into company with George 
Lewis, under the firm name of Erwin, Lewis, <t Co. On the 1st of 
January, 1839, he entered into partnership with Henry E. Russell, 
F. T. Stanley, and Smith Matteson, engaged in the manufacture of locks 
and other hai'dware. He continued with Mr. Russell as a partner in 
the successive firms of Stanley, Russell, & Co. ; Mntteson, Russell, Erwin, 
& Co. ; and Russell, Erwin, tt Co., all doing business in the same locality. 
On the organization in 1851 of the Russell & Erwin Manufacturing 
Company he became its president, and held the office by successive 
elections until his death. He was president and a director of the New 
Britain National Bank, a director of the New Britain Savings Bank 
and of the principal manufacturing companies of New Britain, of sev- 
eral insurance companies in Hartford, and of other corporations in 
Hartford and elsewhere. Though seldom holding public offices, by 
wise counsels and the judicious use of his wealth he aided public im- 
provements. His sterling integrity and practical wisdom in business 
matters made him a valuable counsellor. He was beneficent while 
living, and by his will devised most of his large property, inventoried 
at more than a million of dollars, to the cause of education and to 
public and charitable uses. He died March 22, 1885, in the seventy- 
fourth year of his age. 

John B. Talcott was born in Thompson ville, Sept. 4, 1824. His 
parents removed to West Hartford in 1828. He fitted for college in the 
Hartford Grammar School, and graduated from Yale in 1846, the salu- 
tatorian of his class. He studied law with Francis Fellowcs, Esq., 
of Hartford, at the same time hearing Latin recitations in the Hart- 
ford Female Seminary, and performing the duties of Clerk of the Pro- 
bate Court. While thus engaged he was appointed tutor to fill a vacancy 
for a year in Middlebury College, Vermont, after which he returned to 



NEW BRITAIN. 317 

Tlartfoi-d, and wns adinittocl to tho liar, lie wa.s .soon appointed tutor 
in (ircck at Yaio Cciilcu'c, and llllcd the po.sition for tlircc years; at the 
same (inie pur.suinir liis law studies, expect inii; to ))racti8e hnv. He was, 
however, indueed to eliange his plans and iietrin active liusiness in New 
Britain, as a partner wilh Setli J. North and others, then engaged in the 
manufacture of knit fjoods and of iiooks and eyes. He was elected treas- 
urer and mana.irer of (lie New IJritain Knittinu' Company, holding this 
position for fourteen years. In IKIiH he t)rganized the American Ho- 
siery Company, of whic-h lie was for many years .secretary and treasure)-. 
H(^ is now |)resident of this com]iauy, and also of the New Britain 
Knitting Company, the New Britain institute, and tli(> New Bi'itaiu 
CIul); a director in the New Britain Savings Bank, in the City Bank, 
Hartford, and in several nianufactiiring companies. Pie was elected a 
member of ili(> common council in 1876, alderman in 1877-1879, and 
mayor in ISSO and 1881. In all tho relations of liis puidic business 
and in social life he has the respect and confidence of his fellow- 
citizens anil of all who know him. 

David N. Cam]) was born in Durham, Oct. 3, 1820. He taught a few 
years in public schools and in an academy in Meriden. r)n the incor- 
poration of the State Normal School he was appointed teacher in that 
institution, became associate principal in 185;"), and iirincijial and State 
Superintendent of Schools in 1857. He resigned in 18()(i, and jiassed 
some months visiting the educational institutions of Hurope. While 
there he was appoin(e(l a professor in St. .John's College, Annapolis, 
Maryland, where he taught until the organization of the National Bureau 
of Education, when he resigneil. to engage in the service of the bureau 
in collecting information rcs|)ecting education. He establislieil the New 
Britain Seminary in 1870, and was its principal until 1881. He was for 
several years editor and manager of the " Connecticut Common School 
Journal," and afterward of other periodicals. He revised Mitchell's 
Outline JIaps and the " Governmental Instructor," C(jnipiled and 
edited the " American Year Book," and is the author of a series of 
geographies and majis, an<l of a gloiie manual. On tho organization 
of the city government, in 1870, he was (dectcd a member of the 
common council, was mayor from 1877- to 1879, and reijresented the 
town in the General Assembly in 1879. He was one of the incor- 
porators of the New Britain Institute, is president of the Adkins 
Printing Company, vice-president of the New Britain National Bank, 
and dii-ector in sevci'al other corporations.' 

Among the early residents of New Britain wore several persons of 
marked character, of whom portraits and full sketches cannot well be 
given. Captain Stephen Lee, one of the seven pillars of the Great 
Swamp Church, resided on East Street, and owned a large tract of land 
extending from his home to Main Street. lie was cajitain of the Far- 
mington train-band, was much engaged in civil anti ecclesiastical 
affairs, and was one of the leaders in securing the oi'ganization of the 
New Britain Society ; but in 1753, nearly a year before the act was con- 
smiimated, he died, at the age of eighty-seven. Colonel Isaac Lee, a 
grandson of Stei)hen, was a farmer by occupation, residing at the head 
of Main Street, but his time was largely given to the public scrnce. 

• Abridged from "American Journal of Education." 



318 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

He Tvas prominent in the organization of the First Church, and one of 
its officers fo^- forty-eight years. He was for thirty years the leading 
magistrate of the place, administering justice fearlessly and impartially, 
and was treated with great respect. He represented the town in the 
General Assembly, and in 1788 was a delegate to the State Conven- 
tion which adopted the Constitution of the United States. He died 
Dec. 13, 1806, aged eighty-six. Major John Paterson, who lived near 
Captain Lee, on East Street, was a large landholder, owning some 
slaves, and was active in civil and military affairs. His son, General 
John Paterson, graduated from Yale college in 1762, and lived at his 
father's homestead as a practising attorney and teacher. He removed 
to Binghamton, New York, became Chief Justice of Broome County, 
and held other local offices of trust. He was a brigadier-general in 
the War of the Revolution ; then a member of the legislature of Xew 
York for four years ; a member of the convention to amend the con- 
stitution of the State in 1801 ; and a representative in Congress 1803- 
1805. He became an extensive landholder, and removed to Lisle, New 
York, where ho died, July 19, 1808, at the age of sixty-four. In the 
northeastern part of the place Thomas Standley, or Stanley, a direct 
descendant of one of the first settlers of Farmington, exerted a large 
influence, and, with his sons, gave name to Stanley Quarter. 

In the southwestern part of the parish was a band of stalwart men 
who gave name to Hart Quarter, and stamped their influence on the 
whole place. Judah Hart and Elijah Hart were relatives of nearly the 
same age, and married in the same year, 173-1. They had their homes 
near each other. The former had three and the latter seven sons, who 
lived to manhood, were married, and, with a single exception, resided 
near the homes of their parents. All were members of the First 
Church, two had ten children each, two eleven each, and some of the 
others had large families. All owned considerable property, and a few 
possessed large estates. Several were men of more than ordinary intel- 
ligence and force of character. 



Czi. J[rc 



^2.— v-v~^^ 



XIX. 
NEWINGTON. 

BY ROGER WELLES. 

NEWIXGTftX contains about fourteen square miles, in the form of 
a |iaralleloi::rani, about five miles in length from north to south, 
and two and three fourllis miles in breadlii. It adjoins seven 
other towns : West Hartford and a part of Hartford on the imrtli ; Weth- 
ersfield and a part of llocky Hill on the east ; Berlin, RoeivV Hill, and a 
point of land belonging to Wetherslield on the .south ; and Xew Britain 
and parts of Derlin and of Farmington on the west. As seen from 
Cedar Mountain, whose ridge sul^stantially foi-ms its natural eastern 
boundary, the town spreads out beneath the eye in a valley of field, 
forest, and meadow, every acre of wiiicii is oapablc of cultivation. It 
is easily seen to be the home of the farmer, and the well-tilled farms 
besi)eak the intelligent thrift and industry of the people. One at- 
tractive feature of the i)icture is an oval-shaped sheet of water in the 
exact geographical centre of Die jilace, on a comjiaratively high iilatt'au 
of land, and conlined by a natural ledge of trap-rock. Its outlet divides 
the town irregularly into halves, and joins a larger stream from Xew 
Britain, anciently called Piper's River, which winds through West 
Hartford, and by Park River through Hartford into the Connecticut. 
Two main highways, half a mile apart, run north and south through 
Xewington, marking the ancient divisions of the ])arish, called the 
West Divisions by the fathers, who originally subdivided them into 
" lots." 

The village Congregational church stands conspicuous on an emi- 
nence on the eastern mainroad, about midway of tlic place north and 
south, and in its rear is " God's acre." Near by are the town-hall, 
post-olhcc, and store, with that inevitable adjunct of the meeting-house 
in the early days — the whi])ping-post, which has now, however, lost its 
former vocation. There is (jne other church cdillcc in the town. At 
the northern jiart, where the two railroads. New York, New Haven, and 
Hartford, and Xew York and Xew England, form a junction, and have a 
common dej^ot, a village has clustered, with a post-oflico and store and 
Grace Church. 

Sowheag, a sachem of the Mattabesett tribe, originally sold the land 
in Newington to the first settlers of Wethersfield. A committee n\y 
pointed by the two towns of Wethei'sfield and Farmington delinitely 
settled the western limit of this Indian purchase on the 'I'Mh of Oc- 
tober, IGTO, by a line which established their boundary, running from 



320 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Hartford south to a white-oak tree " standhig about a mile to the south 
of Mattabesett River on rising land," or not far from the present town- 
hall of Berlin. This line still divides the towns of Newington and 
New Britain. 

In Februarj, 1671, the inhabitants of Wethersfield voted that "the 
land next Farmington bounds," one mile in breadth, and extending 
from Hartford to Middletown, should be divided to all the " household- 
ers of the town that lived on the west side of the river." There must 
have been seventy-six households west of the river at this time, for 
the tract was divided into seventy-six shares or " lots," each twenty- 
six rods wide and containing fifty-two acres, for which the house- 
holders drew lots. The tract contained 3,952 acres, and was called 
the West Division. The lots were described by numbers, beginning at 
the north end. 

In 168G the town authorized the lay-out of a highway twelve rods 
wide at the fi'ont or east end of these lots, from Hartford line south- 
ward. This is now one of the main highways of the town ; but though 
still wide, its width has materially diminished in the two centuries since. 
In the same year the town granted to the Rev. John Woodbridge two 
hundred acres of land, which was laid out west on this highway, north 
on the Hartford line for eight-score I'ods or half a mile, east and south 
on the common, and extending south two hundred and ten r(jds. The 
extra ten rods were probably for a highway. This grant undoubtedly 
extended south to the highway now running cast from the North 
school-house. 

There was another general division of common land authorized by 
the town in February, 1694. In October following a committee was 
appointed to make the division. In A])ril, 1695, it reported a division 
of five different tiers of lots. The third tier ran east from the Wood- 
bridge grant, abutting north on the Hartford line and south on what 
is now called Jordan Lane, which then extended west of Cedar Moun- 
tain in what was as nearly a straight line as the topographical character 
of the mountain would permit. The lots ran north and south one 
hundred rods across the tier, and being of shorter length than Avas 
usual, were called " short lots." There were but nine of these lots in 
all, numbered 70 to 87 inclusive, extending from Ensign Stedman's on 
the east to the Woodbridge grant on the west. Land was left foi- a 
highway south of them. The first, second, and fifth tiers were in Weth- 
ersfield, in that part now constituting Rocky Hill. The fourth tier of lots 
was wholly in Newington, called the East Tier, and ran parallel to the 
West Division, and half a mile east ; being separated from it by a strip 
of common land called the Half-mile Common. It was a half-mile 
wide, and extended from the highway south of the " short lots " to the 
New Haven road as its southern terminus, or about four miles. It 
contained thirty-nine lots, beginning at the north end with lot 88, and 
ending with lot 126 at the south. The lots of this second division were 
all apportioned according to the lists of the proprietors as taken in 
October, 1693, because a purchase of land had been made from the 
Indians and paid tor by a special tax laid upon the list. 

The building of a saw-mill at the foot of the lake had been author- 
ized as early as Oct. 25, 1677, and lots of twenty acres each, in the 



NEWINGTON. 



321 



immediate vicinity, " about Piiio-Stavc Swamp," were jrrantec] by the 
town to Emanuel Buclv, John Riley, Samuel Boardman, and Joseph 
Riley, on eondition that they i)uild a saw-mill. " to be up and lit to 
work " i)V the last of September, llJTS. It is mentioned as in existence 
in the spVinii' of 1080. This lake was in the half-mile connnou, as were 
these lots, which were called saw-mill lots. In suliseipu'ut transfers of 
these and other lots they are often described in the deeds as situated in 
Cowplain. wliich was the designation given to this part of the town for 
manv years before it was called Newington. A third general division 
of all the common lands of the town was authorized at a meeting of the 
proprietors, held Feb. 20, lTo2, to be apportioned according to the list 
made up after August 20 ])receding. The grant of lots for the building 
of the first saw-mill, as detailed, prolnibly followed not long after the first 
settli-ment of Newington. Settlers were attracted by the lake and its 
mill privilege, and tlic well-watered valley al^ounding in heavy timber; 
while abundant grazing is suggested by the name Cowplain. Pipe- 
staves had been obtained there long enough for the locality to be named 
Pipe-.stave Swamp in the vote of the town in 1677. The tradition is 
tliat five persons — three by the name of Andrus, and the others Slead 
and Hunn — -were the first settlers of Newington. The records show 
that Joseph Andrus drew lot 145 in the division of land laid out 
according to the list of 1G93, so that he was settled there and had 
property in the list prior to that date. He came from Farmington, 
where he was born May 26, IGol, the son of John Andrus, one of the 
first settlers of that town. lie married in 1677, and died April 27, 
1706. As he was not one of those who drew lots in the division of 
1671, he could not then have been a householder in the town. He 
Ijouglit one of the saw-mill lots, March 31, l(i84, and afterward made 
manv other purchases, and became a large landholder. Ho is said to 
have located near the centre, and to have built a house that was for- 
tified, a few rods south of the meeting-house, to which the first settlers 
retired with their families every night and slept on their arms ; but 
the Indians in the neighborhood were friendly, and never attacked 
them. He left a son, Pr. Joseph Andrus, born in 1678, who was 
prominent in church and society afTairs, and was said to have been " a 
shrewd, observing man, who had a very retentive memory." He died 
Jan. 18, 17o6. He left a son, Joshua, afterward a deacon of the 
church. He lived on the spot Avhcre the Kappcll family now reside. 
The two other settlers Ijy the name of Andrus were said to have been 
nephews of Jo.seph, and to have settle<l in the south part of the parish ; 
they were probably the brothers Daniel and John Andrus, who were 
the sons of Daniel Andrus of Farmington, a brother of Joseph. 

John Slead, or Sled, bought a fifty-two-acre lot (No. 22") in the 
West Division, Dec. 16, 1681, and half of the ne.xt lot south, Nov. 10, 
1694. He is said to have built his house near the site of the old 
academy, about half a mile west of the house of Joseph Andrus. His 
name apjiears in iho town but not in the society records. 

Samuel Hunn bought the ninety-first lot in the division of 1693, 
containing twenty -five and a half acres, Aug. 14, 169.5, and two years 
later he bought the third. foui-th, and sixth lots in the West Division. 
His name a]i])eais i)rominently in the town and society records. He is 
said to have located in the north i)art of the place. He died, Nov. 1. 1738, 

vol,. II. —21. 



322 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

aged sixty-seven, according to the inscription on his gravestone in the 
Newington cemetery, which has the following lines : — 

"The fledi & bones of Samuel Hunn 

Lie uuderneath this Tomb 

Oh, lett them reft in Quietnefs, 

Uiitill the day of Doome." 

None of these settlers except the first drew lots in either of the two West 
Divisions. There was another settler in the extreme south part of the 
place wlio was undoubtedly the first in ])oint of time, and pre-eminent in 
the extent of his land. Sergeant Richard Beckley received a grant from 
the General Court, Oct. 8, 1668, of three hundred acres lying on both 
sides of Mattabesett River to run up from New Haven path. This 
grant was confirmed by the town at a meeting held Feb. 23, 1670-71, in 
whicli it is described as obtained by him "by purchase of Turramuggus, 
Indian, witi^ the consent of the court and town . . . whereon his house- 
ing and barn standeth," so that at this date lie had a house and barn 
in Newington. This confirmation of his grant from Tui-ramuggus is, 
however, stipulated to be on the condition that he give up all right or lot 
in the West Division, which was separated from his land only by a 
highway. The tradition is that he married a daughter of Tun-amuggus. 
As the latter was a successor of the sachem Sowhcag, and one of his 
heirs, and had the disposal of so much land, an alliance with the royal 
line of native chiefs may not have been disadvantageous, and may account 
for this grant and for his location near the home of the chief.^ Other 
Beckleys in process of time settled around him, until the name of 
Beckley Quarter was acquired by the locality. He appears to have 
been one of the first settlers of New Haven, and one of the pillars of 
Mr. Davenport's church. The records of that colony show that he 
resided there from 1639 to 1059. In 1646 he and " sister Beckley," 
who was probably his wife, were " seated " in Mr. Davenport's church 
in the second seat, indicating his ]irominencc. He is stated to have 
married for his second wife a daughter of John Doming, of Wcthcrs- 
field. In 1662 he was appointed a constable in Wethersfield, so that 
his removal from New Haven to Wethersfield was between 1659 and 
1662. He died Aug. 6, 1690. As the land in Newington was highly 
productive, the pioneer settlers were soon joined by others, and in a few 
years this small beginning grew into a considerable and prosperous 
settlement. 

By the year 1708 the settlement had so increased that the inhabi- 
tants petitioned the town of Wethersfield to be a distinct parish. In a 
town-meeting held Dec. 18, 1710, the petition was so far granted as to 
give the petitioners liberty " jointly and publicly to gather in the public 
worship of God amongst themselves for four months of the year yearly, 
that is to say, December, January, February, and March." Another 

1 In an Indian d<'ed of the town lands of 'Wethersfield, given Dec. 25, 1671, to confirm 



_ .'ightful : — - - --- o , 

deed, given Feb. 10, 1672, Turramuggns is described as " the sachem," and among the signers 
are himself, his daughter, and Kesoso', the "sachem's squaw" (Town Votes, ii. 252). In both 
deeds he signs first, as the iirominent personage, and in the latter deed his mark is followed by 
that of his wife, and then by his daughter's. 



NEWINGTON. 323 

petition was presented to a meeting held Dec. 2-1, 1712, alleging the 
difficulty "in the best season (if the year" of attending' public worship 
in Wcthersficld, and the capacity of th(< petitioners " in a tolerable 
manner " of maintaining a minister '• with the ordinances of the gos- 
pel," and expressing tlieir earnest desire of being a distinct parish. 
This petition was signed by thirty persons, who probaljly represented 
that number of families residing in the West Divisions. The action of 
the town was now favorable, and the petitioners were granted the privi- 
lege of being "a distinct parish by themselves for the cai'rying on the 
worship of God amongst tliemselves," and a connnittee was appointed 
to "look out a convenient place on the commnns between the two last 
divisions whereon the west farmers shall erect their meeting-house." 
This committee reported at a town-meeting held March 2o, 1713, that 
tiie meeting-house should, when erected, " .stand on that j)iece of cleared 
land adjacent to the house of Joseph llurlbut and John Griswold, west- 
erly, about the middle of said land, on the west side of a small black 
oak tree." This report was accepted. In May, 1713, a committee of 
the west ]iroprietors petitioned the General Court, then in sessicm at 
Hartford, to confirm the grant. Tlie Beckleys, however objected to 
being included in the new society, because they were "twice so near" 
to tlie meeting-house in the Great Swamp Society as to the jdace 
selected by the committee for the meeting-house of the new society. 
Their opposition was unavailing. The Assembly granted the charter 
" according to the grant of the town of Wcthersficld," with jiarish limits 
" two miles and fifty rods in width from Farmington townslup eastward, 
bounded on the North by Hartford, and on the South Ijy Jliddletowu." 
Tiie jiarish as thus incorporated contained two settlements, one of 
about twenty-three families in the vicinity of the selected site for the 
meeting-house, north of the geographical centre, and called in the 
language of that day the " U])per Houses," and the other of seven or 
eight families near the southern extremity and called the " Lower 
Houses." The latter immediately took measures to sever their en- 
forced union with the " Upper Inhaljitants," and effect a junction with 
the Great Swamp Society. As an equivalent for their secession they 
proposed the annexation to the new jiarish of some of the pi'oprietors 
of lands in Farmingt(m in the division of land abutting upon Wethers- 
field. These proprietors were nearer the chosen site of the meeting- 
house in Xewington than to that in the Great Swamj) Society, and 
were found to Ijc willing to make the exchange. For the encourage- 
ment of this exchange the " Lower Inhabitants " executed a bond dated 
May 13, 1715, for the payment to their "neighbors in said Western 
Society " of £50 to help build the new meeting-house, and lodged 
it on file in the office of the colonial secretary at Hartford, where 
it is still to be seen. A petition was jireseuled to the General Court 
at its session in May, 1715, to legalize the exchange. This body 
apjjointed a committee to " go upon the place " and effect a settlement 
if possible, consider the suljject of the exchange, fix a site for the 
meeting-house if necessary, and report at tlic next October session of 
the Assembly. The committee reported in favor of the exchange, and 
fixed the site of the meeting-house on the commons "near Dr. Joseph 
Audrus's house," which was the site previously selected by the town 
committee. 



324 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

The Assembly accepted the report and passed an act to carry it 
into effect. Thus Stanley Quarter, as the annexed portion of Farming- 
ton was called, became a part of the parish of Newington ; and it so 
continued till 1754, when the parish of New Britain was incorporated, 
covering this territory, and Beckley Quarter was confirmed to the 
society of Kensington, and afterward became incorporated ^\ith the 
town of Berlin. In the year 1716 the new society began to keep a 
record of its meetings, and from that time to the present this record is 
nearly unbroken. The society immediately began the erection of its 
meeting-house. In 1720 they made choice of the Rev. Elisha Williams 
as their minister. In 1721 the society was legally christened Newing- 
ton by the General Assembly, in honor, it is said, of the residence of 
Dr. Watts, near London, England, on the Surrey side of the Thames. 
The church was duly organized at a fast held Oct. 3, 1722, and Mr. 
Williams was ordained Oct. 17, 1722. 

In 1871 the inhabitants of Newington were found by a special cen- 
sus to number eight hundred and thirty-seven. A considerable part 
of them presented a petition to the General Assembly of that year for 
incorporation as a town, partly for the same reasons that had actuated 
their fathers in 1712 in their earnest desire to he a distinct and inde- 
]>endcnt parish, — the inconvenience and difficulty of travelling to 
Wethcrsfield over Cedar Mountain and several ranges of hills and 
intervening valleys, and the conviction that they could better manage 
their own affairs if they had a free and independent local self-govern- 
ment, than as an outlying and dependent fraction of Wethcrsfield. 
The petition met with some local opposition in Newington, but none 
from their tramontane brethren. The citizens of Newington nomi- 
nated a candidate for the legislature who favored the new town. His 
name was put on the tickets of both ]jolitical jjarties, and he was 
elected on that issue almost unanimously. The act of incorporation 
was passed by the legislature without an opposing vote, and was 
approved by Governor Jewell, July 10, 1871. The boundaries of the 
town were a little more extensive as originally incorporated than those 
already mentioned, but were the following year made to conform to 
their present limits. During the few years of its existence the town 
has increased in numbers and prosperity much more rapidly than ever 
before in the same length of time. By the census of 1880 its popula- 
tion was 934, an increase of over eleven per cent in nine years. It 
has built a town-hall, and substantial imjirovements have been made 
in roads and bridges. It has no debt, and its taxes have been usually 
about seven mills on the dollar. No liquor is licensed to be sold within 
its borders. No saloon has ever spread its baleful influence. It sends 
one representative yearly to the legislature, and has elected thirteen in 
all. Newington is the youngest of the twenty-nine towns forming 
the sistei'hood of Hartford County, and her history as such is yet to be 
achieved. 

Three religious denominations have had houses of worship in the 
town, — the Congregational, Episcopal, and Methodist, — the first of 
which was the sole church organization until near the close of the ■ 
last century. The establishment of the Ecclesiastical Society connected 



NEVVINGTON. 325 

with this church has ahvady been related. There are no records of the 
church known to exist, separate from tlie society records, prior to 1747. 
Its lirst minister was the Kev. Elisiia Williams, whose life may be 
brieHy outlined as follows. lie was the son of the llev. William 
Williams of Hatlicld, Mass., where he was born Aug. '24, ltJ'J4. lie 



^^/^^U ^ui^^^:(/m^ 



^U^^^'pL^^o^ 



^^^\^/j^^ 



entered the Sophomore Class at Harvard College in 1708, and grad- 
uated in 1711. The year following he taught the grammar school at 
Iladley, Mass. lie married Eunice, daughter of Thomas Chester, of 
Wethersfield, Feb. 23, 1714-lo. He then took up his residence in 
Wethersficld, where the records show he owned Indian slaves. He 
represented the town in tlie colonial legislature in Octolx-r, 1717 ; May, 
1718; May and October, 17111; and .May, 1720. He was clerk of tlie 
house at all of these sessions but that of May, 1719, when he was audi- 
tor of public accounts. He acted as tutor of Yale students at Wethers- 
field from 1716 to 1718. In 1720 he had a severe fit of sickness, when 
he became " sanctified," to use the language of President Stiles. He 
was chosen the minister of the parish at about twenty-six years of 
age, at a society meeting held Aug. o, 1720. A settlement of jC170 
was voted, and a salary of £oO a year. He doubtless continued to 
preach until the formal organization of the church in 1722. In the 
fall of 1725 he was chosen rector of Yale College. Negotiations be- 
tween the church and college were had as to the sum which should be 
awarded the former for their charges in settling him. On the 4th of 
May, 1726, £200 16.v. were awarded, and his connection with the society 
was dissolved. He was installed as rector in September, 1726. and filled 
the position for thirteen years, — till Oct. 21. 17;^>0. wlien he resigned 
on account of ill health. He then returned to Wetherslield. and was 
again a representative in May, 1740, and was S]icaker of the House. 
He continued to be a deputy from Wetherslield and Speaker of the 
House for several sessions. He was judge of the Superior Court in 
1740, and for some years thereafter. In March, 1745, he was a])- 
poiuted chaplain to the State forces sent in April in tlie expedition 
against Cape Breton, and witnessed the cajiture of Louisburg. In May, 
1746, he was again a deputy in the Assembly. That session voted to 
send an expedition to Canada, and Mr. Williams was ap])ointed its 
colonel. The regiment did not go, liut expenses were incurred, and he 
was sent as special agent to Oreat Hritaiu to negotiate for their jiay- 
ment by the home government. Wiiile there his wife died. May 31, 
1750; and the next year, Jan. 27, 1751, he married Klizabeth Scott, 
the hvmnist, onlv daughter of the Rev. Thomas Scott, of Norwich, 
England. (The Hon. Thoums Scott Williams, late Chief Justice of 
Connecticut, and a relative of the rector, was named after this father- 



326 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



in-law.) After his return from abroad he lived in Wethersfield till his 
death, July 24, 1755. His career shows him to have been a man of 
remarkable versatility of talent, and prominent in theology, education, 
law, legislation, diplomacy, and military affairs. John i'cming was 




^a^:^t4,? 
















the first deacon of the church, appointed at its organization, Oct. 3, 
1722; and he continued to officiate till his death, May 1, 1761. Jabez 
Wliittlesey was chosen in April, 1726, and officiated until his removal 
to Bethlem in 1745. 



NEWIXGTON. 327 

Tlic Rev. Simon Backus was ordained tlic second minister of tlic 
cliincli .'an. 25, 1727. He was tlie sou of Josepli and Elizabetli 
(Iluntinuton) l>acl<us, of Norwich, where lie was born Feb. 11, 
17U1. lie graduated at Yale College in 1724. He had a settlement of 
.£175, and a salary of .£70, to rise to £dO. He was married, Oct. 1, 
1729, to Eunice Edwards, daughter of the Rev. Timothy Edwards, of 
East Windsor. He preached in Newington till he was a])poiuted chap- 
Iain to the Connecticut forces that garrisoned Louisburg after its cap- 
ture. He ])robably was tlie innnediate successor of Rector Williams in 
that ])osition. He died at his post March 15, 174(3, leaving liis widow, 
witii seven children, in such straitened circumstances that upon her 
memorial the Assembly granted her X300 in old-tenor bills. Her 
brother, the famous Jonathan Edwards, was one of the fourteen stu- 
dents of Yale at Wcthersficld in 171G, and afterward occasionally 
preached in Newington. 

The third minister was the Rev. Joshua Belden, the son of Silas 
and Abigail (Robbins) Belden, of Wethersfield, born July 19, 1724. 
He graduated at Yale in 174:3, and began to preach in Newington, May 
10, 1747, and was ordained the 11th of 
November following. He discharged the <^>^^ 
active duties of ])astor for liftv-six years, y/ ^*^'' 
— until Nov. G, 1803. He died Ju'ly 23, / ' 

1813. He was thrice married. He admitted to the communion of the 
church 169 members, and to the half-way covenant, 159 persons ; but 
this practice was discontinued in 1775 as unauthorized by Scripture. 
The bapti.sms were 622; marriages, 336 ; and deaths, 443. Deacons 
were chosen as follows : Josiab Willard was a])])ointed the third deacon 
in 1745, and so continued until his d(';i(li. MareJi 9, 1757. Joshua An- 
drus, 1757 ; died April 25, 1786. John Cam]), Julv 2, 1761 ; died Julv 
27, 1782. Elisha Stoddard, Aug. 14, 1782 ; died Julv 2, 1790. Charles 
Churchill, Aug. 31, 1786 ; died Oct. 29, 1802. James Wells, Aug. 5, 
1790; resigned Oct. 29,1818. Daniel Willard, Feb. 24, 1803; died 
Jan. 16, 1817. 

Deacon Charles Churchill, who was at one time caj^tain of the local 
military com])any, built, about 1754, in the south part of the town, 
what is now known as the old Churchill house. It was then considered 
one of the finest residences hcreai)outs. Besides seven open fireplaces, 
it contains four great ovens, one of which is large enough to roast an 
entire o.\ ; and it is the tradition that Captain Churchill once entertained 
Washington and Lafayette there, and that all four ovens were in full 
blast at the same time. One of its chambers is said to have been 
papered with the depreciated currency received by Captain Churchill for 
sup|)lies which he furnished to the army. 

In 1797, after a controversy of nearly eighteen years over the site, 
the erection of a new meeting-house was begun a few rods northwest of 
the first one. It was practically finished the next year. It has been 
much modernized by freriuent repairs, and is now a very pleasant house 
of worship. During the Revolutionary War Jlr. Belden took the patri- 
otic side, and a sermon of his, i)reaehed June 30, 1776. is full of vigor- 
ous exhortation to his peojile to both pray and light in defence of their 
country; and they resjioiided by sending one hundii'd men into the 
war, — one fifth part of the po]iulation of the parish, et|uivalent to 



328 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 




THE CHUECHILL HOUSE. 



J 




a^cfip 



all its fighting men. The church numbered fifty-one members at 
Mr. Belden's resignation. 

The fourth minister, the Rev. Joab Brace, D.D., was the son of 
Zenas and Mary (Skinner) Brace, of West Hartford, born June 13, 
1781. He graduated at Yale in 1804 ; preached liis first sermon at 

/7 . NewingtonOct.7,1804; 

ilUt\, .cCew tCu^^dJLf ^ aMc<^fuf>udtl^ '^"'^' ^'^^ ordained Jan. 
'^^^•^^^ 16,1805. He married, 
Jan. 21,1805, Lucy Col- 
lins, of West Hartford. 
He continued the active 
duties of pastor for just fifty years, preaching his farewell sermon 
Jan. 16. 1855, which was printed by the society. Tlie degree of Doctor 
of Divinity was conferred in 1854 by Williams College. He died, April 20, 
1861, in Pittsfield, Mass., at the residence of his son-in-law, the Rev. 
Dr. John Todd. He was a man of towering and commanding figure, 
with piercing black eyes and sonorous voice. In his later days he was 
most dignified and venerable in his appearance. During his ministry 
the admissions were 321 ; bajitisms, 401 ; marriages, 257 ; and deaths, 
453 ; and at its close the church numbered 170 members. The follow- 
ing deacons were chosen : Levi Demino:, Oct. 29, 1818 ; died Jan. 1, 
1847. Origen Wells, Oct. 29, 1818 ; resigned Nov. 29, 1847. Jedediah 
Deming, Julv 1, 1847 : died May 4, 1868. Jeremiah Seymour, Nov. 29, 
1847; died April 1, 1867. 

A Sunday school was establi.shed in 1819 by a few of the church- 
members, which now numbers 223 members, and has eight hundred 
books in its library. 



newinCtTon 329 

The fiftli minister, tlic Rev. William Pope Aikin, was tlic son of 
Lemuel S. and Sarah (CotHin) Aikin, ol' Fairhaven, Mass., born July i), 
182."). He ,-,n-a(luatcil at Yale in 

1853, and beeamc a tutor in that ./A/ /j p /^ ' / * 

institution. He leecived a eall /f44^t<,a.^-i^ r ^^!^yLi.T-i 
to settle in Xewington March o, 

1850, whieli he accepted, and was ordained Jan. 15, 1857. He married 
Susan, dauii'hter of Edwin Kdgerton, Esc]., of Rutland, ^\'rmont, 
Auij. 13, 1857. He diseharned the duties of pastor for ten years, greatly 
to the satisfaction of his people, to whom he endeared himself by the 
high qualities of his mind and heart; and they reluctantly yielded to 
his resignation and departure to another held of labor in the summer 
of 18G7. During his pastorate the admissions were 5-1; baptisms, 
63 ; marriages, 31 : deaths. 109. The deacons chosen were Rufns 
Stoddard, May 3, 18(J7 : died Jan. 3(\ 1870. Levi S. Deraing, May 3, 
1807 ; resigned in 1870. Mr. Aikin died at Rutland, Vermont, March 
29, 1884. 

The following ministers have also officiated as pastors during the 
years desiunated : The Rev's Sandford S. Martvn, 1808-1869 ; Dr. 
Robert G.'^Vermilye. 1870-1873; William J. Thomson, 1875-1879; 
John E. Elliott, 1879-1884. The deacons chosen during the same 
period are Jedcdiah Deming, Feb. 0, 1870 ; Charles K. Atwood and 
Heman A. Whittlesey, March 0, 1870, who are still in oitice. The 
church now numbers 191 members, with 102 families, who habitually 
attend its public woi'ship. 

The eighteen years' controversy as to the site of the second meeting- 
house settled down, toward its close, to a choice between two rival loca- 
tions. When the ([uestion was decided, in the summer of 1797, many 
of the defeated party joined with persons in Worthington and Kensing- 
ton, that same fall, in erecting an l'>piscopal chu)-cli in the southwest 
part of the [larish. a little below where William Richards now resides. 
This church was hfty by forty feet in size, with a tall steeple, and was 
erected and finished at about the same time as its rival. It was called 
" Christ Church," and kept up an active organization for thirteen years. 
Its clergymen were the Rev. Seth Hart, the Rev. James Kilbourn, and ^ 
the Rev. Anuni Rogers, besides others who may have officiated tem- 
])orarily. Mr. Jonathan Gilbert was appointed warden of the parish 
A|(ril 18, 1808. The members were few and the expenses heavy, so 
that the church did not prosper. No records were kept from 1810 to 
1820, when the society had become virtually defunct. A remnant of 
the church organized in 1826 for the purpose of disposing of the 
church edili(;e, which had become somewhat dilapidated by neglect, and 
it was sold for one hundred and fifteen dollars, and the avails turned 
over to the Epi.scopal Church in New jjritain. There was a burying- 
ground C(jiineeted with this church on the opposite side of the street, 
which is the only vestige left, visible to the eye of the jiassing traveller, 
of what was the first Episcoi>al cluirch in Xewington. There is a 
record-book in the hands of Jlr. Selden Deming. 

The second Episcopal organization held its first church service in 
1800, in the house of Jared Starr, E.scj. Such services were held in 
private houses or in the depot until Xovcmber. 1874. when the corner- 
stone of Grace Church was laid, and in March, 1875, the edifice 



330 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

was completed and occupied. The audience-room has seats for one 
hundred and fifty persons. It is located about a half-mile northeast of 
the depot. The number of families on the parish register is thirteen ; 
communicants, twenty-one ; average attendance upon public worship, 
forty. In the Sunday-school there are thirty scholars and four teachers. 
The clergymen who have ofticiated more or less are the Rev's Professor 
Francis T. Russell, F. B. Chetwood, Francis Goodwin, William F. 
Nichols, John M. Bates, and Howard S. Clapp. Grace Church is free 
to all, supported by contributions collected every Sunday. It was con- 
secrated June 15, 1882. Its wardens are Jared Starr and E. T. Day. 

Prior to 1834 there had been too few Methodists to attemjjt an 
organization, but about that date they were joined by some disaffected 
members of the Congregational church, and on Nov. 28, 1834, Mr. 
Zaccheus Brown conveyed a rood of land, at the northwest corner of his 
home-lot, to Amon Richards, Robert Francis, Jr., and Hervey Francis, 
" in trust for the use and benefit of the trustees of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church." A church was there erected twenty-six by thirty-six 
feet in size, without steeple or bell. Public worship was maintained for 
some years. It had a Sunday school which in 1837 numbered forty 
scholars. But the organization did not attain any permanent pros- 
perity. In the fall of 1860 the meeting-house was removed to the 
corner northeast of the Congregational church, and in 1870 it was sold, 
and devoted to private uses. Its assets and members went to the 
Methodist church in NeAV Britain. 

The first action in relation to schools was taken at a society meet- 
ing held Dec. 31, 1723, when a school committee was appointed, and 
" the country money " was voted " to them to defray part of the charge 
of a school." The first school-house is mentioned in a vote passed 
Dec. 15, 1729. A new school-house at the nortli end was built in 1757. 
It was voted, Dec. 1, 1760, that the summer school be kept by " a 
school dame," which shows an early appreciation of the value of female 
teachers. A school-house at the south end is mentioned in 1773. In 
1774 a new school-house was ordered to be built in the centre of the 
society, " near to Captain Martin Kellogg's house." The society was 
divided into three school districts in 1783, called the North, the Middle, 
and the South districts. A fourth district was created by the school 
society in 1835, called the Southeast district. These districts still con- 
tinue, with some changes of boundaries. The four districts have five 
school-houses, all in good condition. A new school-house was built in 
the Middle district in 1883 at a cost of two thousand dollars. The 
number of children enumerated in the town in January, 1883, was two 
hundred and thirty-one. In 1829 an association was formed, called 
" the Newington Education Company," for the purpose of building an 
academy for a school of a " higher order " than the district schools. 
The building was erected, and an academy flourished there for a quarter 
of a century. Though there has been no academy in the place for the 
last thirty years, education has not been neglected. It was estimated 
by Dr. Brace in 1855 that for twenty years prior to that date one thou- 
sand dollars annually had been spent in educating Newington children 
abroad, in seminaries, high schools, and colleges. This annual ex- 
penditure has undoubtedly greatly increased with the added years. 



NEWINGTON. 331 

Dr. Brace liad a private school for thirty years, in whicli ho fitted boys 
for college, instruct iiig two hundred in all. Our common schools have 
made steady advancement, never having afforded better advantages to 
the scholars than to-day. 

There are three mill-privileges which have been occui)icd as sites 
where mills have been carried by water-ixnver : one in the centre of 
the town, at the north end of the pond ; one in the north district, on 
Piper's River ; and one at the west side, near the boimdary line. There 
have been five grist-mills. Tiic first was built as early as 1720 probably, 
by Deacon Josiali Willard, at the nortli end. The second, at the west 
side, was built by nenjamin A<ikins, on the spot where Luther's mill 
now stands. The third was built l)y Martin Kellogg, 4th, and Daniel 
Willard, -d, where the lirst one stood. Its long mill-dam was several 
times i)artially carried away by the fresh(>ts to which that river is sub- 
ject. The fourth was built at the centre, north of the pond, by Israel 
Kelscy and Joseph Kelscy, of Berlin, and Unni Uobl)ins, of Xcwington. 
It was afterward destroyed by fire. Several other mills and factories 
have been built and destroyed by fire since at that place. Tiie present 
factory there makes |>a]ier for binders' boards. The fifth grist-mill was 
built by Josepli and James Cliurchill, where Adkins's mill had been, 
at the " west side." It is still used as a grist-mill, owned by Martin 
Luther, and is now the only one in the town. 

A satinet-factory was built by General Martin Kellogg, Daniel Wil- 
lard, 3d, and John M. Beldcn, at an expense of about twelve thousand 
dollars, at the north end, about 18.38. It was destroyed by fire a few 
years ago, and the site is now vacant. There is a l)rick-kiln at the west 
side of the town, whore a largo quantity of brick is made, carried on 
by the Messrs. Dennis, near tlie New York and New England Railroad, 
and a station has been establislied there called Clayton. There was 
formerly for some years a distillery at the centre, where cider-brandy 
was manufactured, until the Washingtonian temperance movement 
touched the conscience of the owner and he abandoned the business. 
The manufacture of cotton-batting and of edged tools was also carried 
on at that point for a few years by Edwin Welles. 

The principal industry of Newington has at all times boon the 
tilling of the soil. In former days there was some commerce with 
the West Indies. The ))roducts of the soil were exported, especially 
onions ; and molasses, sugar, and rum were brought in return cargoes 
to Wcthersfield. But our inland situation has proved a l)arricr to com- 
mercial entcr]»rises. Our soil is well adapted to the cultivation of all 
of the ordinary farm crops, as potatoes, corn, oats, rye, turnips, onions, 
tobacco, hay, fruits, and seeds. Hartf(ird and New Britain furnish 
markets of easy access, while two railroads otter convcnit'ut transpor- 
tation to those more remote. The soil is generally a sandy loam, ex- 
cejit in the northern and western ])ortions, where clay abounds. A good 
deal of money is annually spent in fertilizers, but the land yields a 
return which makes the expenditure a ]>aying investment. The fences 
are almost wholly of posts and rails ; rarely you see a stone wall. 

The first trainband or militia company in Newington was organized 
at the meeting-house, Oct. 18, 172G, by the choice of John Camp 



332 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COrNTY. 

as captain, Ephraim Peining lieutenant, and Richard Bordman en- 
sign. At tliat time tbe militia of each countv constituted a regiment, 
with no fixed number of companies. This first company in Newington 
was the fourth in the town of Wethersfield, there having been two in 
the old society and one in Rocky Hill prior to this time. Those 
on the muster-roll in Newington had ]irobably been attached to the 
north, or second company of the old society. These three officers were 
prominent among the early settlers. Their names appear signed to a 
petition to the town, presented in 1712, for the forming the settlers into 
a distinct parish. Captain Camp died Feb. 4, 1747, in his seventy- 
second year. He left a son, John, born in 1711, who was deacon of 
the church for many years, and lived in a house west of the residence 
of Shubael Whaples. Lieutenant Deming died Nov. 14, 1742, in 
his fifty-seventh year. Ensign Bordman became a lieutenant, anjl 
died Aug. 7, 175.5, in the seventy-first year of his age. The second 
captain was Martin Kellogg, appointed in October, 1735. He was born 
Oct. 26, 1686, the son of Martin and Amic Kellogg. He lived with his 
father in Deerfield, Mass., when that place was sacked by the French 
and Indians, on the 29th of February, 1704. His father and four chil- 
dren, including himself, were captured, and were obliged to make the 
long march through the snow to Canada. The four children in their 
Captivity learned the Indian language. The eldest daughter, Joanna, 
became attached to that mode of life, and married an Indian chief. 
Martin, Joseph, and Rebecca became useful frequently afterward as 
interpreters. Martin was captured by the Indians several times, and 
taken to Canada. He says, in a petition to the General Assembly in 
1745, that more than thirty years ago he escaped from a long and 
distressing captivity among the French and Indians. He married, 
Jan. 13, 1716, Dorothy Chester, daughter of Stephen Chester and 
great-granddaughter of Governor Thomas Welles, a cousin to the wife 
of the Rev. Elisha Williams. In 1726 he was appointed one of the 
committee to arrange the terms of Mr. Williams's removal from the 
Newington church to Yale College. After that event he owned and 
lived in the mansion built by the church for Mr. Williams, and died 
there Nov. 13, 1753, aged sixty-eight. He was remarkable for bodily 
strength and presence of mind. Many exploits of his early life have 
been handed down by tradition. In June, 174G, the legislature ap- 
pointed a committee to employ him in the proposed expedition to 
Canada " as a pilot on board his Majesty's fleet " for " the river of 
St. Lawrence." In 1749 and 1750 he was engaged as instructor to the 
Indians, especially of the Six Nations, of the Hollis School at Stock- 
bridge. In 1751 he was sent with clothing, as colonial agent, to 
Hendrick, chief of the Mohawks. Indeed, the colony and parish 
records show that he was a man of affairs whose services were often 
made useful, especially in negotiations with Indians. 

In 1739 the militia of the State was organized into thirteen regi- 
ments : Wethersfield was embraced in the sixth. In that year war 
was proclaimed between England and Spain. In 1741 an expedition 
was sent against the Spanish'West Indies, and a draft of one half of 
the Newington muster-roll was made, July 2, 1741, at one hour's 
warning, of six officers and twenty-three privates. Their names 
were : ensign, Robert Wells ; sergeant, Caleb Andrus ; drummer, David 



NEUTXGTON. 333 

Wrijilif : corporal.. loiiatliaii AVli;i|)k's; sortreaiit, Samuel riainhill; cor- 
jwral, Zclniloii itohljius ; )privates, Samuel Hiiuu, .Jouathau Dcvcrux, 
TliDUias Stoddard. Zehulou Studdard, Natluuiicl Chureliill, Daniel Wil- 
lard. William Audrus. .Judali Wright, llriiiy Kirkliam. Jnsepli Audi'us, 
Jc'dcdiali Atwood. Stedman Youiiirs, l']iijnli Aiidrus. Aliraliaiu Warren, 
I'liislia Demiuu', .laiuia Demiuji', IJenjaiuiu (luodricli, .Jouathau Blinn, 
Alartiu Kelln;r>r, David Colcmau, 'J'homas Kobljius, Charles ilurlbut, 
Josiah Whittlesev. The age lor military dutv was then from sixteen 
to fifty. 

Some of the captains that succeeded those already meiiti<incd were 
Josiah 'VYillard, Charles Churchill, Martin Kelloffg. 3d, Robert 
Wells, Sr., Robert Wells, Jr., Jouathau Stoddard,"^ Roger AVclIes, 
Leyi Lusk, Aljsalom Wells, Robert Francis, Jonathan Stoddard, Jr., 
Martin Kellogg, .5th, .fames Deming, Joseph Camp. On the re- 
organi/ation of the militia, a light infantry com])any was enlisted 
from the old society and that of Newington, about two thirds of them 
from Newington. The cajjtains who belonged to the latter parish were 
Josepli Camp, Simeon Stoddard, Daniel Willard, Erastus Latimer, 
Erastus Francis, Seidell Deming, Daniel II. AVillard, Albert S. Ilunn. 

According to a census taken August, ITTti, Newington numbered 
four hundred and sixty white, and seyen colored inhabitants. It has 
had four colonels; namely, Roger Welles, Leyi Lusk, Martin Kellogg, 
and Joseph Camp. Three of these, namely, Welles, Lusk, and Kel- 
logg, were afterward brigadier-gen- 
erals ; and two of them, Lusk and 
Kellogg, were promoted to the rank y^/^^^L^^^^-^ 
of major-general. In the war of 
1812-1815 two small drafts were 
made from the company, and stationed 
at Groton, to defend New London, and the frigate "Macedonian" 
and the sloop-of-war " Hornet," from any attack that might be made 
from the British fleet on the coast. CJeneral Levi Lusk commanded 
the militia, and Lieutenant Joseph Camp (afterward colonel) had a 
command there. 

In the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865, Newington sent forty-nine 
volunteers and nine substitutes into the contest. Perhaps the most prom- 
inent in all this list of military characters was (iencral Roger Welles. 
He was a descendant of Governor Thomas "Welles, in the sixth genera- 
tion. He was born Dec. 29, 1753, at Wetherslield, in the liouse 
lately occupied by General L. R. Welles, just north of the State prison ; 
which property has been in the ownership of the Welles family since 
it was bought by Governor Welles. He was the sixth child and 
second son of Solomon and Sarah Welles, in a family of twelve chil- 
dren. His mother was also a Welles, a descendant of three governors, 
Welles, Pitkin, and Saltonstall. He graduated at Yale ('ollege in 
1775. He taught school at Wethersficld till the Revolutionary War 
broke out, when he entered the service, and continued in it till the 
war closed. He served as lieutenant in Colonel S. B. Webb's battalion 
Connnecticnt troo])s, known as the Ninth Battalion or Regiment. He 
was first lieutenant in Captain Joseph Walker's company, where he 
remained till April 22, 1779, when he was transferred to Captain 
Tlmmas Wooster's comi)any. As lieutenant he was in command of the 




334 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

company till Aug. 1, 1780, when he was transferred to the Light 
Infantry Company, having been promoted to a captaincy, to date from 
April 9, 1780. In 1783, and perhaps before, he was in command of 
the Light Infantry Company, Third Connecticut Regiment, Colonel S. B. 
Webb commanding. He was present at the siege and capture of York- 
town, in command of one hundred picked men, none of whom wei-e 
less than six feet tall, under General Lafayette, by whom lie was 
ordered to storm and take a redoubt ; which he accomplished, being 
foremost in taking possession of the works, though wounded by a 
bayonet-thrust in the leg. He was afterward presented with a sword 
by General Lafayette. He married Jemima Kellogg, daughter of 
Captain Martin Kellogg, 3d, on the 2oth of March, 1785, and settled 
in Newington, where he lived till his death, March 21, 1795, in 
his forty-first year. In May, 1788, he was appointed colonel of the 
Sixth Regiment of Militia. In May, 1793, he was appointed Brigadier- 
General of the Seventh Brigade. He was a meml)er of nine sessions 
of the legislature, from 1790 to 1795, being a member when he died. 
He was of commanding appearance, being six feet two inches tall in 
his stockings, with blue eyes and light-brown hair. He had five 
children. 

One of these, the Hon. Martin Welles, born Dec. 7, 1787, was a 
prominent lawyer at the Hartford County Bar. He graduated at 

Yale College in 1806 ; was 
I judge of the County Court 
for several years ; a repre- 
sentative in the legislature 
for six years ; clerk of that 
body three years ; speaker two years ; and State senator two years. 
Like his father, he was over six feet tall, dignified and commanding ; 
a man of strong will and immense perseverance. He addressed a court 
in words terse and well-chosen, and as a lawyer was particularly 
skilful in the science of pleading. He died Jan. 18, 1863. 



(^^^^^^^ /s^^\ 




XX. 

PLAINVILLE. 

BY SmOX TOMLINSON. 

IN 1869 Plainville was set off from Farminjiton, where it had been 
earlier iiiiown as the Great Plain, and was incorporated as a town. 
It is bounded north bv Farmint;ton, east by New Britain, south 
by Soulhington, west i)y Bristol, and contains about twelve square miles. 
The village i)ro])er is (jiily about four and a half miles from the busi- 
ness centre of Farmington ; but its history and business interests had 
been so separate from those of the town to which it was attached that 
the legislature of 18(30 granted its incorporation, although the place 
was not even represented in that body as a voting district. The peti- 
tion was signed l)y every legal voter, and the division was ciTectcd 
without discord. 

Plainville is jirohably the most level township in the State. Nearly 
all of its area is in the broad o|icn ])lain lying between the mountain 
ranges which run north from New Ilaven harbor to Vermont. Plain- 
ville is distant twenty-seven miles from the Sound coast, and twenty- 
five miles from the Massachusetts line. The whole jilaiii is composed 
of drift, and seems to be of comparatively recent origin. The shallow, 
sandy loam of tlie surface rests on gravel and sand, with here and 
there a stratum of clay, and the red sandstone lies mider all and 
occasionally crops out. Water is abundant at from six to twenty feet 
below the surface. The Pequabuck River flows northward from Plain- 
ville into the Farmington River just opposite Farmington village, 
furnishing in its course the water-power for Terryville, Bristol, and 
Plainville. On the east side of the jilain, about a mile from the 
Pc(iuabuck valley, is Ilandin's Pond, known in the old records as Big 
Pond. It is fed by small streams from (he north and east, ami itself 
is the source of Quinnipiac River, wiiidi Hows due south througli Soulh- 
ington, Meriilen, Wallingford, and North Haven, to New Ilaven Bay. 
Thus Plainville rests upon a dividing ridge of water-shed, and is the 
highest bottom-land along the valley. Its measured altitude is 186 
feet above tide-water. It is a current geological belief that the Con- 
necticut River formerly flowed through this valley and was at a com- 
paratively late day diverted by some convulsion near Mount Tom, in 
Massachusetts. 

It is not probable that any large tribe of Indians made this place 
their camping-ground, but there are evidences that the triltes of the 
Quinnipiac and Farmington valleys met here in eonflicl. A field near 
Big i'oiul has yielded stone arrow-jwints to many curiosity-hunters; 
and they have been found, too, in large numbers along the river-bank 



336 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



on the north side of the village. Stone axes, samp-bowls, and other 
relics have also been found ; and man}- bones were uncovered when the 
canal was being dug. The last Indian who lived in this section was 
named Cronx, and the land where his hilt stood still bears his name. 

The rich bottom-lauds of the Tiuixis valley attracted and held the 
first settlers ; and the outside lands, like the Great Plain, being less 
fertile, were mapped off into divisions, and these into small sections, 
which were allotted by vote to settlers, on condition that they would 
pay the taxes for a number of years. Thus these lands fell to many 
proprietors, and few settlers located upon them, as the lands of the 
east and west border were preferred. The western slope was called 
Red Stone Hill, from the quantities of broken red sandstone which lie 




THE " OLD ROOT PLACE." 



there. It was thereabouts that the Hookers, Curtises, Roots, Bishops, 
Twinings, Phinneys, Richardses, Morses, and others settled. To agri- 
culture was early added the manufacture of tin and japanned ware, and 
Red Stone Hill was for years the centre of this industry. This section 
received further importance in 1778, when Samuel Deming, of Farming- 
ton, bought a section of land on the Pequabuck River and built a saw- 
mill and grist-mill there, near the present site of the hame-works of 
Edwin Hills. This property was subsequently owned by the Roots, who 
added wool-carding and the manufacture of cloth to the other occupa- 
tions. They were descendants of John Root, who Iniilt the " old Root 
^ y Place," now owned by E. N. Pierce. 

itiQ'Ayp t^ ^/ "a^ Mr. Root was one of the first set- 

\J '^^ /w»^l\rP^^^U^ tiers on the Great Plain proper. 

In 1784 John Hamlin for <£30 
bought 6 acres 16 rods, at White Oak, as the eastern slope was called. 
He located near what was thereafter called Hamlin's Pond, and his 



PLAIN VILLE, 337 

desccnthiiits still own much of the l:in<l tlicrcaboufs. In the same year 
Chauncy Hills gave- XI 2 for 8 acres and £10 for 4i acres, and he was 
the tirst man to locate on the broad plains. He entered extensively 
upon the purchase ami cultivation of these lands ou the plain, which, 
though not apparently very fertile, were level 

and easily tilled. lie lH)rrowed money to buy ^J? , ^.^/^ 
still more, i)aid promptly, anil in time came '^Aui^*^Yz ^f'^ 
to be tlie independent owner of more than one ^/^ /T 

thousand acres, — nearly all the eastern plain. ^ {/ 

Ilis grain-crops alone exceedetl fifteen hundred 

bushels. At his death he left a large and well-tilled farm to his .seven 
sons and daughters. No less than ninety-iive of his immediate de- 
scendants are now living, of whom thirty-live still reside witliiii the 
limits of Plainville. Ilis eldest son, the late Elias Hills, brought up a 
family of eleven children, seven of whom arc still 
Jj/^^// liviu'i, and all of whom are residents of this place. 
■^(cUfU With these exceptions, few of the descendants of 
the early settlers remain here, and the family- 
names are found oftener on "the headstones of the cemetery than in 
the homes of the living. 

Much interesting information as to this place is found in the " Plain- 
ville Notes" of the veneral)le Jehiel C. Hart, who came to the Great 
Plain in 1814 to teach school, and who in later years gave much time 
to tracing the histories of the old families and the town itself. He 
reported twenty families, with a 

population of about two hundred /, ^ /^ . 

and liftv in his school district in )r ///O /T/ /jj jh ^"^ 

1814, and about one hundred pu- / '/ L^ ' C/ (/:P Ccyiy/ 
pils in the school, though some of 
these came from Bristol. In ISTI 
he recorded the fact that " only eleven arc to l)e found here now." 
Such has been the restlessness of jiopulation in this moving century. 
Mr. Hart said that in 1814 he found already established an excellent 
library, which was kei)t at the school-house. The people were intelli- 
gent and orderly. There was no meeting-house, and the inhabitants 
worshipped in the neighboring towns. Mr. Hart, who died in 1881, was 
the last of the eighteen petitioners who, in 1839, asked leave to with- 
draw from the Farmington Congregational Cluinli and establish one at 
Great Plain. 

The Plain remained of little importance and with but insignificant 
business interests until the construction of the Farmington Canal. 
This remarkable though unfortunate work — an attempt in a small 
way to bring back the Connecticut River to its original path — was 
thrown open to business in 18-6. Between here and tide-water at New 
Haven were about twenty locks to overcome the elevation (180 feet). 
Tiiis .station received flic name of Bristol Basin. The basin was located 
just south of Main Street, between the present railroad-track and the 
store n(}w owned bv H. I>. Frost, whieli stood then upon the basin, so 
that boats could be loaded and unloaded at its door. Bristol had th«i 
already l)econie a place of considerable mercantile and manufacturing 
importance, and so gave its name to the basin. At Main Street a 
bridge s])anncd the canal. Farmington. then one of the richest towns 

VOL. II. — 2-2. 




338 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

in Connecticut, had invested heavily in the canal, ami had great hopes 
from it. As many as twelve mercantile establishments were run- 
ning there shortly after the canal was opened, and there was talk of 
rivalling Hartford as a business centre. 

E. H. Whiting came to Plainville and bought five acres near the 
present residence of R. C. Usher, where he built a basin, and a ware- 
house beside it, and established a store (now turned into a tenement). 
He also built a hotel, which stands on the street-corner. It was in this 
building that the first post-otfice was located, and by vote of the people 
in 1831 the name of Plainville was adopted. Dr. Jeremiah Hotclikiss 
was the first postmaster and the first appointed office-liolder in the 
town. The position yielded honor rather than profit. The mail was 
displayed on a board, with a lattice of tape, under which the letters 
were slipped. Thus, as every one could see the entire mail, each could 
learn at a glance whether there was anything for him. This simple 
style of delivery continued here until 1860. 

In 1829 Mr. Whiting sold his store to A. F. Williams and Henry 
Mygatt, of Farmington, and for less than twelve dollars an acre bought 
thirteen acres along the canal at Bristol Basin, now the most thickly 
settled part of the town. He built the store now owned by H. D. Frost, 
and the business was carried on there until the death of his l)rother, 
Adna Whiting, in 1865. 

About 1835 H. M. Welch, now one of the leading and richest citi- 
zens of New Haven, built a large store on the west side of the basin. 
He carried on a large wholesale and retail business, emjiloying a 
number of canal boats to bring the goods, and many heavj- teams to 
distribute them through the surrounding country, while the farmers 
brought in theii- produce for sale and shipment. In those days Bristol 
Basin was a busy centre. Mr. Welch removed to New Haven in 1848 ; 
but the activities developed at the Bristol Basin were the beginnings of 
the town of Plainville. 

The canal suffered from the porous nature of the soil and frequent 
washouts, and from the long period in each year during which it was 
closed by frost ; and after about twenty years it was merged into 
the canal railroad, with a track along the tow-path. The first passenger 
train arrived in Plainville Jan. 8, 1848. It had been intended to keep 
the canal open until the railroad was built ; but a disastrous washout 
near Simsbui-y left it empty, never to be refilled, and left many canal- 
boats high and dry for all time. About 1852 an east and west railroad 
— the Hartford, Providence, and Fishkill — was opened through Plain- 
ville, now incorporated into the New York and New England Railroad, 
of which it is the main track west from Hartford to the Hudson. Thus 
the town has ample railway facilities. 

The manufactories of the town are estimated to make about three 
quarters of a million dollars worth of products yearly, and employ from 
four hundred to five hundred hands. 

The largest is the Plainville Manufacturing Company, organized in 
1850. It employs over two hundred hands in making a large variety of 
kdit underwear. The stock of the company is principally owned in New 
Haven. 

The hame and plating works of Edwin Hills, now employing about 
seventy-five men, are on the Pequabuck River, in the western part of the 



PLAINVILLE. 339 

villago. Hiram Hills, his fatlior, bci^aii the biisiiioss in a small way 
about 1836, and al'tor various vicissitutlcs it has become very success- 
ful. Hero also on the opposite side of the same stream is the large 
grain-aud-fo(nl mill of Ci. W. Eaton. 

A loading Plainvillo industry is the manufacture of carriages. Be- 
fore the war the Plainvillo cariiagos bad a large sale at the South. 
This was. Ill' oourso, all broken oft when the wai- liogaii, and the manii- 
facturors sulVorod severely. L. S. (iladding A: Co. survived the trying 
e.\]iorienco, and the business wliieh they established is still carried 
on by Horace Johnson, a former partner. E. W. Weijstor, unable to 
recover from the losses of the war, sold out, and was succeeded by 
the Condoll, Mastin, <fe Hutler Co. The carriagc-sliojjs of this firm, 
as also the works of Horace Johnson, were burned in January, 1884. 
Mr. John.son now owns the whole ])roperty, and has rebuilt the works. 
Those two carriage-works are tlio largest, and thoio are several smnller. 

An interesting industry, conducted by one of the oldi'st lirms here, 
is the manufacture of clock-hands, rivets, and other delicate hardware, 
by Clark A- Cowles. A. N. Clark nuinufactures watchmakers' goods. 
George Hills & Son make metallic clock-cases, and also .sell some clocks. 
Burwell Carter has a brass-foundry. B. H. Warren & Son, successors to 
F. S. Johnson, employ a number of hands in sawing ivory, horn, and 
fancy woods for knife-handles. C. H. Jones has works for making steel 
slides to which the needles in knitting-machines are attached. 

The first ecclesiastical society of Plainville was organized in 1839, 
and in 1840, on petition of eighteen signers, the church was set off 
from tliat of Farmington, to be known as the Second Congregational 
Church of Farmington. The fir.st mooting-house was dedicated June 25, 
1840. The first pastor was the Rov. ("liauncey 0. Cowles, of Farm- 
ington. The present church building was put up in 1850. From a 
membership of about seventy at tlio first year, the clnirch has now 
between three hundred and four hundred, while five other denomina- 
tions have been organized in the town. The present pastor is the 
Rev. Joseph X. Backus. 

The Baptist society was formed in 1851, and the ohiMoh dedicated 
in necember, that year. It has about one hundred members. The 
present pastor is the Rev. Erastus C. Miller. 

The Church of Our Saviour (Episcopal) was organized in 185!>, with 
fifty members, mider the rectorship of tho Ho v. Francis T. Russell. 
Tlie Rov. W. E. Johnson, rector of Trinity Church in Bristol, is the 
officiating rector of this church. 

To accommodato tho many Swedes living in Plainvillo, and also 
those of Bristol and Forostville, a Swedish Methodist church was built 
in 1881. The pastor is the Rev. M. A. Ahgron. 

A Methodist cliurch was built also in 1S81. Its pastor is tho Rev. 
Puaiu! N. (iritfin. The Motlmdist Camp-mooting As.sociation has its 
camivgrounds in tiio western part of the town. 

The Roman Catholic Church has had stated .services in Plainville 
for more than twenty-live years, at one time as a jiart of the New 
Britain parish and at another time as a part of Bristol. In 1881 the 
Rev. P. ilc.Vlenuy was assigned to Plainville, and the present fine 
church was built. 



340 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

The lirst school-house in the Great Plain was built about 1790, and 
is still standing, at the south end of the covered bridge. It is now 
a brass-foundry. In 1842 Plainville was divided into two school dis- 
tricts, the east and the west. Soon after the town was incorporated 
they were consolidated, and the graded system was adopted. The 
present school building was erected in 1872. The graded system, 
though strongly opposed at first, has given general satisfaction. The 
separate school at first maintained in the White Oak District has been 
discontinued, as it was found clieaper to give the scholars that were 
attending it free transportation to the graded school. 

Farming on a large scale has been given up in this town, and the 
land is cut up into small sections. The last of the farmers who culti- 
vated land here by the hundreds of acres was Samuel Camp, who died 
in 1876. 

The work of " village improvement " has been generally undertaken 
in the town, and it bears many evidences of care and of good taste. It 
is a healthy place, and is steadily growing in population. It has a 
weekly newspaper, — the " Plainville Weekly News," — edited aiid pub- 
lished by C. H. Riggs, of Bristol, in connection with the " Bristol Press." 
The local editor is Simon Tomlinson. 



^tyy7'^-*^^^*'»-»^^?a'»n_> 



XXI. 

SniSBURY. 

BY LUCIUS I. BAliBER. M.D. 

rr^nE beautiful valley tluough which the Farniington River winds 
I iu its course from Farmington bouutls northward, was called 
bv its original occupants Massaco (pronounced Mas-saw co), and 
the ri^er itself, the Tunxis. This valley lies between two parallel 
mountain ridges, stretching in a northeasterly and southwesterly direc- 
tion called bt- the early settlers respectively Last Mountain and AN est 
Mm.ut lin The East, now called Talc .tt M.,untaiii, in honor ot Major 
John Talcott, of Ifarttord, is a continuation of the Mount llolyokc and 
Mount Tom ran-e, of Massachusetts, and t<-rininates in East Rock at 
New Iliven The West Mountain is a coiumuation ot the CTi-een 
Mountain range, of Vermont, terminating in West Rock at New IlaN^n 
Previous to its settlement by the whites Massaco was an i.nl.roken 
forest, save along the river, where natural meadows spread out on 
either side, skirt.;d with tangled thickets and vines, interspersed with 
patches of Indian corn, tobacco, beans, etc. Moose, deer, and othei 
wild animals were numerous, and its streams were supplied with 
Lb in the un-eatest abundance. All these rendered it an mviting 
and favorite camping and hunting ground for the Indians. Its 
plains and ui.lands were covered with majestic pines, and its ridges 
mid mountain-sides with hard wood of every variety adapted to the 

^ '"tIic first official or public notice of Massaco is in an order of the 
General Court, in these words : — 

April 1642 — " Its Ordered, that the Governor and Mr. Heynes shall have 
liberty to' dispose of the ground uppon that parte of Tunxis Riiier cauled Masso- 
cowe, to such iuliabitants of Wyndsor as they sliall see cause. 

About the year 1643 two young men. John Orithn and Michael 
Humphrey, came to Windsor and . . ^^ ^ /V^^vi 

engaged in the manufacture of tar y^ O-^vCyi (TO"^^*/!^^ 
and turpentine, which soon became -^ '^ V-^ ^ 
important articles of commerce. -^ 

John Griffin was the pioneer in this business, as he was afterward the 

pioneer settler of Massaco. In 

^P^A! I / Ao l^^-l" ^1><^ General Court ordered 

--♦V/"^*'**^ /-f U**^*Cirjt> that Massaco be purchased by the 

^-^ country, and apiioiutod another 

committee to dispose of it. But no purchase from th.> Indians, and no 

grants, were made by cither of these committees. Meanwhile (.rillin 



342 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

and Humphrey were prosperously carrying on their business of manu- 
facturing pitch, tar, and turpentine, when a difficulty, involving im- 
portant results, occurred between Griffin and an Indian. One day 
Manahannoosc, a Massaco Indian, " did wittingly kindle a fire," which 
consumed a large quantity of tar belonging- to Griffin. For this the 
Indian was arrested and brought before the Court in Hartford, and 
in default of " the payment of five hundred fathom of Wampum," 
which was the judgment of the Court, was delivered over to Griffin, 
by order of the Court, " either to serve, or to be shipped out, and ex- 
changed for neagers, as the case will justly beare," — as provided by 
law. To escape this penalty, Manahannoosc gave to Griffin a deed of 
Massaco ; and the other " Indians, the proprietors of Massaco, came 
together and made tender of all the lauds in Massaco, for the redemp- 
tion of the Indian out of his hands, being they were not able to make 
good the payment of five hundred fathom of Wampum, for the 
satisfaction." 

The permanent settlement of Massaco began about 1664. The 
General Court had made to several persons grants of land lying on 
both sides of the river, above the Falls. In 1663 a grant was made to 
John Griffin " of two hundred acres [north of the falls] (where he 
can find tliem), between Massaco and Warranoakc, in consideration 
that he was the first to perfect the art of making pitch and tarre in 
these parts." This grant, with another subsequently made by the town 
in 1672, of about a mile and a half square, given in part consid- 
eration of his resigning and relinquishing his Indian deeds to the 
proprietors of the town, constituted what was known as Griffin's 
Lordship. In a deed dated in 1664 he is described as belonging to 
Massaco ; showing that at that date he had become a settled and per- 
manent inhabitant. A committee had been appointed by the General 
Court " to lay out all the lands that ai-e undivided at Massaco, to such 
inhabitants of Windsor as desire and need it." In 1666 they went up 
to Massaco and measured out allotments to themselves and to several 
otiier persons at Newbery's (now Westover's) plain ; and in 1667 they 
surveyed lots, granted at Nod meadow, at Wetaug, and Hopmeadow. 
Tliis committee were Simon Wolcot, Captain Newbery, and Deacon 

Moore. In October, 1668, about twen- 
- ■: "^ A n e" *^y-fi^'6 men met at the house of John 

yMAcr*^ c^^l^CrCr Moore, Jr., in Windsor, and agreed 
on the terms of settlement on their 
several allotments at Massaco. Nearly all of these settled on their 
lands within two years after their grants were made. The settlements 
were mostly along the river, on both sides of it. By a return made in 
1669, by order of the General Court, of the names of the freemen 
belonging to each town and plantation, it appears there were thirteen 
who were " stated inhabitants of Massaco, and have been freemen for 
Windsor, — Thomas Barber, John Case, Samuel Filley, John Griffin, 
Micliael Humfrey, Joshua Holcomh, Tliomas Maskel, Luke Hill, Sam- 
uel Finney, Joseph Phelps, John Pettibone, Joseph Skinner, Peter 
Buell." In the same year John Case was appointed by the General 
Court constable for Massaco, — the first civil office held by any of its 
inhabitants. 

Massaco had hitherto been, in the language of the General Court, 



SIMSBURV. 



343 



•• ail u|>pfiKlix of Windsor." It was an oil'shoot from that town, hi 

l(jTO the iuhaljitauts oi' Massaco appointed two delegates, Joshua llul- 

eomb and John Case, to present to 

the General Court their petitiou lor ^i^^ ^ icc^i^ / 

town privileges. Ihis petition was ^*l/ *^ 

at onee granted, and the delegates 

were received as members of the Assembly at the May session of that 

year. The record of incorporation is in these words : — 

"This Court grants Massacoe's bouuda shall ruiin from Farmingtou bounds 
to the uorthward tciin miles, and from Windsor bounds on the east, to run 
westward tcuu miles ; provided it doe not prejudice any former grant, and be 
iu the power of this Court so to dispose. . . . The Court orders that the plan- 
tation at Ma-ssacoe be called yiMJiSBUUY." 

The origin of the name is a matter of conjecture. Simon Wolcot 
was a prominent man in the colony, as were his father, Henry Wolcot, 
and his brother of the same name. He was one of the committee to 
" dispose of the lands at Massaco, and f urtiier the planting the same." 
He was one of tiie first and most prominent settlers of the town, 
and took an active interest in its affairs. He was familiarly called 
" Sim," according to the prevailing custom of abbreviations, and it is 
not improbable that the town was thus named in compliment to this 
man. 

The records of the first ten years after the town was incorporated 
were unfortunately dcstroved by accidental burning between June, 
1680. and October, 10)81 :" necessarily, therefore, the history of its 

organization and public 

/I cS^ v£v^ / 9 V<L ^.'(>I.\^ 'I'-'t--* during those years is 
£^t^:jik(r^^ ^^^"-y^^ meagre and obscure. John 

Slater was the first town 
clerk whose records are extant : though tradition says John Terry was 
the first to hold tliat otlice, as well as the first military officer. 

At the October session of the General Court in 1670 the depu- 
ties for Simsbury were John Griffin and .Michael Humphrey. In 
1671, as a mark" of confidence, and in recognition of the integrity 
and trustworthiness of Mr. Simon Wolcot, the General Court granted 
to hiin lil)erty " to retail wine and li(iuors (provided he keep good 
order in the dispose of it) until there be an ordinary set up in 
Simsbury." 

During the first five years after the incorporation of the town the 
number of families perce|)tibly increased ; but in 1675 a calamity 
impended which in the following year overwhelmed the town and 
dispersed its inhabitants. Pliilii)'s War had commenced. In Massa- 
chusetts and I'lymoutli colonies attacks were made upon some of their 
towns, manv of their inhabitants killed, and houses pillagoil and burned. 
Simsluiry, being a frontier town, was jieculiarly exposed to danger. By 
order of the General Court a garrison was established there, and kept 
up at the expense of the colony. A council of safety was established 
at Hartford, and was in daily session, for the protection of the colony. 
On the 6th of August the Cinineil " Ordered the several towns to keep 
scouting parties of mounted men on flie roads between town and 
town, for the pii'vention of <lantior to travellers." and -'that Windsor, 



344 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

each other day, shall send four men to clear the roads to Simsbury." 
Rumors of danger increasing, the General Court, at its session in 
October, 1675, passed an order " That the people of Simsbury shall 
have a week's time to secure themselves and their corn there ; and at 
the end of a week from this date the souldiers now in garrison at Sims- 
bury shall be released their attendance there," — thus leaving the 
inhabitants to provide for their own safety. 

As before stated, the inhabitants of Simsbury were mostly emi- 
grants from Windsor. Upon hearing this order many returned thither, 
with such eifects as they could carry with them ; but not all, as ap- 
pears from the issuing another order of the Court, March 3, 1676, as 
follows : — 

" The insoleucies of the heatheu, and their rage eucreasiug against tlie Eng- 
lish, and the spoyle that they have made in sundry places, hath moved us to 
order that fortlnvith the people of Simsbury doe remove themselves, and what 
estate they can remove, to some of the neighboring plantations, for their safety 
and securety." 

Then came the rush for dear life. There was no bridge or ferry 
across the river where teams could cross, or cart-path through the 
forest. All the goods they could carry must be packed upon their 
backs. The Rev. Daniel Barber, a descendant of one of these refugees, 
thus vividly describes the scene, and what followed : — 

" The fearful apprehension of being suddenly murdered by savages put in 
motion and hastened along whole bands of women and chddreu, with men in 
rear ; with sheep and cattle and such utensils and conveniences as their short 
notice and hasty flight would permit. Their heavy articles, such as pots, kettles, 
and plough-irons, were secreted in the bottoms of swamps and wells. The father 
of the first Governor Wolcott and his family were among those who fled from 
Simsbury. He filled up a large brass kettle with his pewter cups, basins, plat- 
ters, etc., and then sunk the kettle, with its contents, in the deep mud of the 
swamp, but was never able to find it afterward. After the inhabitants had 
spent a day or two in their retreat, the men under arms were sent back, for the 
purpose of looking about and making discoveries. They came to the highest 
eminence in the road east of Simsbury River, from which, at one view, they 
could take a survey of the principal part of their habitations, which, to their 
surprise and sorrow, were become a desolation, and every house burnt to ashes." 

And he adds : — 

" I have recorded the story as a matter of fact, having very often heard it 
related as such, in my infant years, and also from the children of those who 
were witnesses and personal sufl'erers." 

The date of the disaster was the 26th of March, 1676. It was a 
Sabbath day. A band of Philip's warriors rushed througli the deserted 
town and applied the torch to the thatched roofs, and forty dwelling- 
houses, with barns and other buildings, were consumed. Fences, farm- 
ing-utensils, furniture, farm-produce, and provisions w^ere gathered into 
heaps and burned. The ruin was complete ; not a house or a building 
was left. Up to the time of the burning of Simsbury the Massaco 
Indians had welcomed their new neighbors and lived in peace with 
them. After this disaster many of them, through fear of the hostile 
Indians, fled in terror to the west, and established a new Wetaug 



SIMSBURY. 345 

01) the banks of the Iloiisatouic. For inmr" iliaii a year Simshiiry 
remaiiu'd a solitude. lUit tlmiidi its foniuT iiihahitanls were driven 
from their homes, tliev still maintained their town urfranization and 
transacted town itusiness. Only one week after the eatastrophe they 
held "a towne mcttinir of y inhal)itants of Simslmry. in Windsor (oc- 
casiimed by the WarrJ." and passed snndry town acts of whieli there is 
a record. 

In tiie sjiriniT of 1677, the danj-er iicing siipjioscd to iiave jiassed, 
the trreater nnnii)er of the settlers returned to their former -rrants. and 
beo-an to build again their habitations. The rebuilding of the town 
was slow and discourairing. Some of the former iidiabitants did not 
return, while otliers, iiaving lost all their goods and utensils, were 
greatly straitened. As in other plantations, a system of "common 
fields" had early been established for the protection of the growing 
crops. One such field was established on each side of tiic river, 
extending from the house-lots to the river in breadth ; and in lengtli, 
from Fai-mington bounds at the south to a point below the Falls at 
the north, — a distance of more than seven miles. These were under 
the care of the .selectmen, or townsmen. In the management and 
care of them great and frequent diflicnlties occurred ; indeed, at this 
period of sotthng anew the town, matters of difTcrence and unpleasant- 
ness were constantly arising. ]>ut in the midst of these it is pleasing 
to observe the spirit of moderation and conciliation which prevailed. 
By a formal vote of the town a memorable rule of action was adopted, 
which is worthy of being perpetuated and kept in force. 

"Dec. 1, 1681. — Wc, the inhabitants of Simsbnry, being met together the 
!•' of y' 10"' monetli, being desirous lienccforward to live in love and peace, 
mutually to the glory of ( !od and our own peace and comfort, to prevent after 
Animosities and uncomfortable variances, do make this Act : That wlieusoever 
any difference may arise in any of our civill transactions, y', after wc have given 
our reasons mutually, one to anotlier, and cannot, by tlio mcanes, be brought 
together : that, to a Final Issue of our dilfcrencc, we will comniitt tlie matter, 
with our reasons, pro and con, to tlio 'Worshipfull Major Tallcott and Captain 
Allen, to heare as presented in writing, and that we will sit downe to their 
award, or determination : this voted and concluded for a standing record for 
henceforward." 

Major Talcott seems to have been the jiatron saint or sjX'cial and 
trusted coun.sellor of the Simsbnry settlers on all oecasi(ms of dilliculty. 
In their tronliles with the Indians, resulting from the non-payment of 
their dues for the purchase of their lands ; in their .strifes in relation to 
the location of the meeting-house ; in the settlement of ministers and 
the distril)ution of lands, — he was ajipenleil to. and aided them by his 
wise cinmsel and advice. In short, " y' \Vnrslii]iful Major Talcott " was 
their •■ guide, philoso])her, and friend." 

Thiity-four years had passed since the Indians sold their lands to 
John Crillin. The title, however, was not valid, the purchase not being 
made in accordance with the laws of the colony. The old Indians had 
l)a.ssed awav. In 1('>80, bv the aid and helpfulness of ''the AVorshijifnl 
Major John Talcott, of Hartford," the inhabitants of Simsbury i>ar- 
gained with the successors of those Indians, who, for the consideration 
of the deed to Grillin. ami for "a valuable sum paid to them in hand," 



346 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

gave a deed in trust for the inhabitants to Major Talcott, and other 
trustees named, in full conlinuation of the contracts of their predeces- 
sors, " of all that tract of land lying and being situate on Farmington 
bounds southward, and from thence to run ten large miles nortlierly, 
and from the bounds of "Windsor town on the east, to run ten large 
miles westward ; the tract or parcel of land being ten miles sc[uare 
large." 

But the "valuable sum" not being paid, "the Indians make a griev- 
ous complaynt to s'' Major, and being incessantly urging for their dues 
agreed for, the Towne at a metting held May 5, 1682, for to still the 
acclaymations of the Indians, and to bring to issue the said case, and 
to ease the major of those vexatious outcries, made by y" Indians for 
their money, to biing the matter to a period, the inhabitants of Sims- 
bury at this meeting have agreed to put to sail one hundred or one 
hundred and fifty acres of said land, within the precincts of .Simsbury, 
on y^ river, towards their west bounds." 

Here the " Worshipful Major Talcott " opportunely comes in and 
proposes as follows : — 

"A C'oppi/ of y' Major Talcoit's teannes. 

" Gentl"" and Frieuds : in y" mean time let not anything I signify here pre- 
vent youi-selves making saile of any or all that land lyeing west upon y° river : for 
the Truth is, I have no desire nor terajitation by all that I have seen or heard, 
to spur me one to gain it, having fully consulted myselfe in reference to j' 
grounds of that matter, in all the circumstances thereof, both good and bade, 
and do find no one place, where aiiyl^hiug considerable can bo taken uj) ; the 
most of that which some call meadow is full of small brush and vines, through 
which v' is no passing; or fidl of trees, small and great, which will be very 
chargeable subduing : and in y" place where tlie best land of that sort is, there is 
no accommodation of vpland to it, saving onely mighty Tall mountaynes and 
Eockes, and the way bade to it, and a great way to all of it, and will be dis- 
mally obscure & solitary to any that shall live vpon it, and very hard coming 
at the market, not onelj' because of y" remoteness, but badness of the passage, 
and the society of Neiglibourhood will be very thin, all which will be discour- 
aging. Yourselves may Improve yo' most Judicious, to take view if you see 
good for yo' further satisfaction : for my designe is not to bring up an evill 
report concerning the badness of any part of yo"' bounds. Neither shall any 
wayes disadvantage yo' market, by putting a low esteme upon the lauds, let 
the wheclls tunie which way they will. And yet, notwithstanding all that I 
have inserted in these lynes, setting asyde all difficultyes mentioned, if you can 
in a joynt way, with freedom of spirit and serenity of mynde se cause to grant 
three Hundred Acres in any place or places, not exceeding three places, where I 
shall take it up, upon said West River towards the West end of yo' Bounds, 
I shall accept you giving deeds for the same ; whether it shall be worth a 
peimy to me or no. And that shall be an Issue of y" Debt matter depending. 
" Your friend and serv', 




In response to these magnanimous " tearmes " the town returned the 
following ; — 



SIMSBURY. 347 

" A Coppi/ of a Letter sent to Afajor Talcott. 

"These are to iiifonno the Worsliii)full Major Tulcott, y' in answer to his 
letter received (June, y' 'J* 1082), the Inlmliituiits of Sinislmry heing met to 
hear and consider y" same, vpon July y* 4"' 1G82, Voted and agreed to give 
tiie Worshipl'iiU Major John Talcott, of liartford, Tin-ee Hundred acres of land 
vpon the River lying towards tiie westward end of our Town Hounds, ifc have 
granted him tiiat hburty to take it up in Tiirco phices, according to liis desire; 
this granted vpon tiie account of tiie Major defraying of tiie cliarges of the 
whole Indian purchase." 

Thus ended a long-pcndiiiii', unsettled elaiiii nl (lie Indians, so as 
to give tliciu satisfaction anil still their '■ aeelayniations." 

From a very early i)eriod difliculties in relation to and arising 
from unsettled boundaries between Simsbury and Windsor existed, 
but they were amicably settled in 1G91. The people living in the 
northeastern jiart of the town were for a long time suljjected to great 
annoyanec and loss by a claim set u]) Ijy Sulheld that they were within 
its limits, and were lialjle to pay taxes in that town. SufHeld was 
organized under and Ijy authority of the General Court of Massachu- 
setts in 1G82, and claimed by that colony. For a long time the line 
between the colonies was in dispute ; but at length a new survey showed 
that not only these border settlers of Simsbury but the whole of the 
town of Sulticld belonged to Connecticut. 

In 178G the town was divided by act of the legislature, — t!ie north- 
ern half, taking with it half the popidation as well as territory, being set 
off and incorporated as the town of (Jranby. Again, in 18UG, Simsbury 
was divided by a north and south line, west of which the territory for- 
merly called West Simsljury was iucorjioratcd as a town, to be called 
Canton. By this division the pupidation of Simsbury was again re- 
duced by nearly one half ; so that in llSlO the census showed a popula- 
tion of about 1,900. But even this did not sullice ; in 1843, by an act 
of the legislature, all that part of Simsbiny lying east of Talcott Moun- 
tain, comprising " a tract of land about five miles from north to south, 
and one mile wide, containing aljout three hundred and fifty persons, 
was annexed to the town of IJloomlield." Thus again was the popu- 
lation of Simsbury materially diminished and its area reduced, so that 
from being one of the largest it has bec(mie one of the smallest towns of 
the State. Its area now covers only tlie original Massaco which Mana- 
hannoose and his friends conveyed to John (irithn. It is bounded on 
the north by Grani)y and East Graniiy ; on the east is Talcott Moun- 
tain, wdiose crest line separates it from IJloomfield ; and Mount Philip 
is in the extreme southeast. These mountains ])iesent toward the west 
a mural front, with only three iiasscs over them within the limits of the 
town: the iirst is at Wetaug, lietween Mount Phi!i|) and Talcott Moun- 
tain : tlie second, at Terry's Plain, two or three miles north of the 
first, through which jias.ses the old county road from (Jrauvilie. Mass., 
to Hartford ; the third and only remaining pass is at the Falls, between 
Simsbury and Granby, wliere the Farmiugton River breaks through 
the mountain ridge on its way to the Connecticut at Windsor. Here 
passes not only the connnon or carriage road, liut also the Hartford 
and Connecticut Western Railroad, from Hartford to the northwestern 
part of the State and the great West. Here too is the beautiful and 



348 



.MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HAKTFORU COUNTY. 



now flourishing village of Tariffville, within the limits of Simsbury, pos- 
sessing one of the largest and best water-powei's of the State. 

Simsbury is bounded on the south by Avon, the north line of which 
runs diagonally across Mount Philip. From the Connecticut valley, 
Mount Philip is scarcely distinguishable from Talcott Mountain, but 
from any stand-point in the Farmington Valley it is a distinct and 
prominent mountain peak. From its summit the view is enchanting. 
There .stand the Tower and the Summer-house, the former in Avon, 
the latter in Simsbury. Mount Philip received its name from the first 
settlers on their return from their sad exodus at the burning of Sims- 
bury. By that name only it has been known by their descendants for 
more than two hundred years. Every rood of land upon it is and has 
many times been recorded in the Simsbury records as " lying and being 
on Mount Philip." 




TAIIIFFVILLE GORGE. 



In railroad facilities Simsbury is not surpassed by any other country 
town. In 1850 the New Haven and Northampton Company constructed 
a railroad, passing through the centre of the town from New Haven to 
the north line of the State, and subsequently to Northampton, on or 
near the line of the canal which had been constructed between those 
points, and which, proving unsuccessful, was abandoned. By this road 
direct communication is had with New York. In 1871 the Connecticut 
Western Railroad, now reorganized as the Hartford and Connecticut 
Western, was opened for use from Hartford to the west line of the 
State, and is now extended to the Hudson River. These two railroads 
intersect each other at Simsbury Centre, and give business and postal 
communication with all parts of the country. 

In 1868 the Simsbury Water Company was chartered, for the pur- 
pose of supplying the families in Centre and Hopmeadow districts with 
pure running water. In this it is eminently successful. 



siMsncRY. 349 

In the early liistoiy of tlic town its ecclesiastical as well as its 
civil affairs were niauaged in ti>wn-nieetin<;s. As early as 1671, 
onlv a year after its oriranizatioii, the town made a contract with 
Mr. Thomas IJarber to erect, accordinj;- to spceilications, a meeting- 
lionsc for pnblic worshi]). As has been stated, the first settle- 
ments of the town were on both sides of the river, on roads ruiming 
parallel with it through the length of the valley. The river not 
being fordable, and there being no Ijridgc or ferry, it was a matter of 
the greatest importance on which side the mceting-housc should be 
placed. 

To settle this question meeting after meeting was held ; votes were 
passed at one. to 1)0 reversed at the next. Bitter feelings arose. A 
majority voted to place it on the east side ; at the next meeting, on the 
west side. At length it was agreed to leave the matter to Major Tal- 
cott and Captain AUyn, of Hartford, who after a full hearing decided 
that the Ikjusc should be built on the west side, in front of the burying- 
ground, at Ho|>meadow, — giving at the same time some friendly ad- 
vice. Again tlie town held a meeting : — 

"Feb. 13, IG82, put to vote y° above written, to seo wlictiier it would be 
accepted, i-especting the whole advise, of the Worshipfull M.njor Talcott and Cap- 
tain AUyn; it by y vote was accepted by 12 persons, and not acepted by 17 
or 18 persons." 

Finally, to put an end to the contest which had continued so many 
years, an agreement was drawn up, and signed by all the legal voters 
of the town, '"to appoynt a day solemly to met together, in a solemne 
maner,tocast lott for y"' place where y'- meetinghouse sluiU stand : . . . 
and where the I'rovitlence of (Jod east it, so to seat down contented." 
This was submitted to Major Talcott and Cai)tiiin Allyn, and l)y them 
was "well ap])rovcd" May 8, 1083. Accordingly, "At a solemne met- 
ting on May 24, 1(383, two papers were put into y" hat, the one east, 
and the other for the west syd of y" river, — and it was agreed that 
the first i)aper that is drawn shall be y° lott; this voted : the lot that 
came forth was for the west syd the river." Thus was amicably settled 
an nnhap|iy cuntrnver.sy whieh bad so long existed, exciting the ani- 
mosities and distuibing the friendly relations of thosi^ who should have 
lived in harmony. Having exhausted all human means to effect a 
settlement, they appealed to the court of Heaven for a decision of the 
question at issue. Without doubt they considered it a religions act, 
and the result as the judgment and will of God. xVU cheerfully 
acquiesced in the decision, and went forward and erected the house 
that had been under contract twelve years. 

Tlu> first meeting-house stood in front of the burying-gronnd at 
Hopmeadow. It was erected in 1(583. It was used for public worship 
al)out sixty years. Mr. Samuel Stone, 

son of the eminent colleague of Jlr. -^ /y CJ-eTiS 

Hooker, of Hartford, was the first min- ^O/ff^^UC J^^*^<, 
ister of Simsbury. He was employed 

during the whole period from 1073 to 1070, only interrupted by the 
destruction of the town in 107(i. 

After Mr. Stone, the mxt minister was Mr. Samuel Stow, then lately 
dismissed from Mitidletown liv a committee of the tJeneral Court. He 



350 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

continued in the work of the ministry here from 1681 to 1685, and was 
invited to settle, but declined. In May, 1G82, Mr. Stow and Michael 

Humphrey were appointed by the 

x'"^ town to present a petition to the 

, SaTHJUJUC ^to-H), General Court asking leave" to sette 

^Xw/ f^ i^*^ [themjselves m Gospel order, and 

form a church. The petition was at 
once granted, but the church was not organized till fifteen years later. 

The next candidate for settlement was Mr. Edward Thomson. He 
was from Newbury, Mass. He supplied the pulpit from 1687 to 1691. 
The town gave him a call to settle ; but not agreeing on the terms, he 
suddenly ix'turned to Newbury. 

After Mr. Thomson came Mr. 8eth Shove, who preached here from 
1691 till 1695. His labors were so acceptable that the town gave him 
a unanimous call to settle, and he signified his acceptance, but soon 
afterwards settled at Danbury. His character was that of a pious, 
godly man, and he was known as a peacemaker. 

In October, 1695, the town voted a call to Mr. Dudley Woodbridge, 
and in August, 1696, I'enewed the call. A difference existed as to the 
terms of settlement, and hence, delay. In July, 1697, increased in- 
ducements were held out to him, and the invitation repeated. After 
some further delay Mr. "Woodbridge acce]>ted the invitation ; and on 
the 10th of November, 1697, the church was organized, and he was 
ordained and installed as its pastor. At the ordination of Mr. Wood- 
bridge, forty -three persons — twenty-six men and seventeen women — 
were admitted members of the church. He died Aug. 3, 1710, and 
was buried in the burying-ground at Hopmcadow. He continued in 
the work of the ministry here u]3wards of fourteen years. Innne- 
diately after his death the inhabitants lield a town-meeting, and ap- 
pointed a day of fasting and prayer, " to seek to God for his conduct 
and guidance in refference to the jirocuring a faithful minister in this 
place, and to advise Avith the Reverend Elders of the neighboring 
Cluirches." In accordance with their advice the town by a uniinimous 
vote invited Mr. Timothy Woodbridge, Jr., a son of the Rev. Timothy 
Woodbridge, of Hartford, to settle in the ministry here, and again in 
1712 the invitation was renewed, with an increase of salary offered. 
This was accepted, and on the 18th of November of that year he was 
ordained. He died Aug. 28, 1742, having continued in the work of 
the ministry liere aboixt thirty years. His remains lie Ijuried near 
those of his kinsman and predecessor. 

The term of Mr. Timothy Woodbridge was a stormy period. The 
congregation had so increased that the old meeting-house was too 
small for their accommodation. 

In 1725 steps were taken by the ^ f/7 /Y-J^" '^ 

town to erect a new one. Then ^^^^ph'nlfH^'^TyOdr^'ta'^^ 
re-arose the question of locaticni, // 

and with it the old feelings of 

jealousy and .strife. Meetings were held, and votes without num- 
ber were passed and rescinded. The General Court " Ordered His 
Honour y<' Governour and Nathaniel Stanley to meet the inhabitants." 
A meeting of the town was held. " His Honour Joseph Talcott, 
Esq., Governour, Avas chosen moderator of the meeting. Sundry 



SIMSBURY. 351 

votes were passed, aiul a site ajrrecd on." This apaiii was rescinded. 
Thus it went on I'loni year to year. The strife continued and wa.\ed 
more licrce, till in 173tj the General Assembly appointed a conimittec 
to report "how they find the state of the matters." Upon their report 
and rceommciidation the General Court arbitrarily divided the terri- 
torv of the town into three societies, besides the ]»ortioii east of the 
mountain, which they annexi-d to Wintonljury. In 173'J the Assembly 
ordered that the meeting-house of the First Society should be located 
on Drake's Ilill, where it has ever since remained. Thus was termi- 
nated a foin-tccn-years bitter controversy. When, sub.se(inently, the 
town was divided, the other two societies were included in Granby. 
Afterward, in 17S0, the First .Society was divided, and the society of 
West .'^imsbury was constituted. 

While these meeting-house difficulties were in progress, others 
arose in relation to the payment of Mr. Woodbridge's salary. At 
the session of the General Court in May, 1732, Mr. Woodbridge rep- 
resented that the town was in arrears to him for one year and seven 
months' preaching, which the town had refused to grant a rate for. 
The court ordered the town, within twenty days, to lay a tax sufficient 
to raise the sum required: and, in case of failure, the .secretary of the 
colony was directi'd to grant execution against the estates of any of 
the inhabitants. In 173iJ ilr. Woodbridge again applied to the Assem- 
bly, representing that his accounts and salary were still unpaid. Where- 
upon it was ordered that the inhabitants of the town " do forthwith 
pay to him what sliall be found in arrcar ; and as Mr. Woodbridge 
lias served the town in the work of the ministry for a year past, the 
Asscml)ly do assess the inhabitants of Simsbiiry in the sum of .£100, 
and appoint and empower John Case, collector, to gather said rate and 
pay it over to said Wi)odbridge." 

At the May session following, in 1737, Mr. Woodliridge having 
shown to the Assembly that, notwithstanding the order of the last 
session, nothing had been done in the jiremises, it was resolved by the 
Assembly '"that tlie inhabitants of Himsbury shall forthwith settle and 
adjust tlieir accounts, and make payment of arrears due to Jlr. Wood- 
bridge"; and auditors were apixjinteil to iiear and adjust the accounts, 
and report to the Asseinl)ly next after doing the same. '• And further 
Ordeied that thi> listers of Simsbury within ten days next after the rising 
of the Assembly make a rate upon the inhabitants, excejit the two north 
parishes, amounting t > £110 on List of 173G ; which list to l)e delivered 
to James Cornish, Jr., who is fully authorized, appointed, and com- 
manded, forthwith to gather and pay the same to Mr. Woodbridge, for 
his service from October, 173."), to Octol)er, 1736 : and if the said 
listers neglect or refuse to make said Rate and deliver the .same to 
s<* Cornish, within the time limited, tiiey shall forfeit and jiay a fine of 
£20 each, — one half to Mr. AVoodbridge, and one half to the county 
treasurer; and if the s* Collector fail in his duty, the Secretary of the 
Colony .shall make a writ of distress, to distrain the s'' sum out of 
the goods of s** Cornish." By these rigid measures the good minister 
was enaijled to recover his dues for services rendered. 

As before stated, the first Ecclesiastical Society of Sim-sbmy was 
constituted by the (leneral Assemldy at its session in October, 1736. 
The lirst meeting was held, anil the societv orsranized, on the second 



352 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COrNTT. 

Tuesday of October, 1737. In December, 1739, the society voted to 
build tlie meeting-house, and to place it on Drake's Hill, as ordered by 
the General Court, where the present meeting-house stands. It was 
not completed and fit for occupancy till 1743. Mr. Samuel Hopkins 
was the first minister employed by the society. Mr. Hopkins after- 
ward became known and distinguished by his theological writings, 
being the founder of what is known as Ho])kinsianism. He preached 
here about six months, and afterward settled in Great Barrington, 
Mass. In 1743 the society " voted to improve Mr. Gideon Mills in 
order for settlement." He was ordained in September of that year. 
After about ten years many of his hearers began to be dissatisfied. 
"At a meeting of the inhalDitants of the First Society in Simsbury, 
July, 1754, it was proposed Whether there is any considerable number 
who are not suted & easy, under the ministry of Rev'^ Mr. Gideon Mills, 
in this society, and it was tryed by vote : and there api)eared twenty- 
nine that voted that they were easy under Mr. Mills' ministry, and 
twenty-five that were not easy." This resulted in his dismissal in 
September of that year. 

In December, 1756, Mr. Benajah Roots was called to settle in the 
ministry here, and on the 10th of August, 1757, was ordained and set- 
tled. He was a man of rare ability and piety. He differed from many 
of his brethren in the ministry, and after a time from a majority of his 
own people, on the subjects then u]ipeimost in their minds; namely, 
infant baptism, the qualifications for admission to the church, the half- 
way covenant, etc., — on some of which he would, in later times, have 
been pronounced orthodox. These opinions, freely and clearly ex- 
pressed, led to his dismissal in September, 1772. Mr. Roots built and 
resided in the house now occupied by Dr. Lucius I. Barber. It was 
built in 1762. From the time of the dismission of Mr. Roots till 1777 
the jnilpit was supplied by Mr. Patton, of Hartford, Mr. David Parsons, 
of Amherst, Mass., and others. 

The Rev. Samuel Stcbbins was ordained Dec. 10, 1777. During 
his ministry a great degree of harmony prevailed, with no disturbing 
element. He was a man of marked intelligence and sagacity, and of 
great shrewdness of character ; and his fellow-citizens reposed great 
confidence in his judgment and business capacity. In 1806 he ten- 
dered his resignation of the pastoral office, and was dismissed at his 
own request. He died Jan. 20, 1821. 

The Rev. Allen McLean was the next pastor. He was ordained and 
settled in August. 1809, and remained in the pastoral office till 1850, 
when, on account of the infirmities of age, at his request a colleague 
was settled. Mr. McLean, however, was continued as pastor, and occa- 
sionally preached, though during the last eleven years of his life he 
was totally blind. In 1859 the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination 
was celebrated by hosts of friends, who gathered from this and adjoin- 
ing towns, and even from other States whither they had emigrated, 
returning to congratulate their old pastor and one another on so inter- 
esting an occasion. It was a day of friendly greetings and congratu- 
lations, of ])resent joys and sunny memories. His interesting historical 
discourse, ada])ted to the occasion, was published. He was a graduate 
of Yale in the class of 1806. He died in 1861. Mr. Samuel T. Rich- 
ards was settled as colleague pastor with Mr. McLean in 1850, and 



SmSBURY. 



353 



contimiod in ollicc, to the ac- 
ceptance of the people, till 
July, 1858, when, at his own 
request, he was dismissed. 
He was followed in the office 
by Mr. Oliver 8. Taylor, as 
collea<rue pastor, who was in- 
stalled Sei)t. 21, 1859. In 
1865 he olTered his resigna- 
tion and was dismissed, the 
relation ceasing after tlie 1st 
of August of that year. The 
Rev. Newell A. Prince suc- 
ceeded him, and was installed 
Nov. 8, 18G5. In 18G8 he ten- 
dered his resignation, which 
was accepted, and his dis- 
mission took place on the 1st 
of June of that year. 

From 1868 to" 1871 several 
persons successively occupied 
the pulpit, and, on the 1st of 
January, 1871, the church and 
society gave a unanimous call 
to the Rev. J. Logan Toralin- 
sou, who for .several months 
previous had supplied the 
pulpit. Tins invitation was 
accepted, and Mr. Tomlinson 
was installed pastor on the 
6th of December, 1871. On 
the •2-lth of February, 1878, 
Mr. Tomlinson communicated 
to the church and society his 
resignation of the pastoral 
oflice " on account of the in- 
firmities of ill health," with 
the re(iuest that they would 
unite with liim in calling a 
council for his dismission. 
This request the society de- 
clined to grant, but " voted 
to give Mr. Tomlinson leave 
of absence for one year." At 
a suljsequent meeting the so- 
ciety reluctantly yielded, and 
united with tiie church in call- 
ing a council for the purpose 
named. On the 27th of March, 
1878, the council convened, 
and after expressing " their 
high and growing esteem of 







354 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

the retiring- pastor's ministerial abilities and scholarly attainments, and 
their confidence in him as a trne man, sincere Christian, and servant 
of Jesus Clirist," declared the pastoral relations between him and the 
church and society to be dissolved from the 1st of April, 1878. 
Mr. Tomlinson was a man of rare abilities, and greatly respected and 
beloved by the people of his cliarge ; and tiie attachment was mutual. 
His failing health alone caused the separation. 

From May, 1878, Mr. William McFarland officiated two years. In 
January, 1881, the Rev. C. h. Tomblen was employed to preach for a 
year, at tlie expiration of which the arrangement was renewed, to con- 
tinue indefinitely, so long as agreeable to both parties. He continued 
in this relation till February, 1884. 

On the 1st of April, 1884, the Rev. Asahel L. Clark was employed 
to discharge tlie duties of pastor; and on tlie lOtli of June, 1885, he 
was regularly installed as such. • 

After standing ninety years, the old meeting-house erected in 
1740 was replaced by the present one, built in 1830 on the same site. 
The church and society have received valuable gifts and bequests 
from several benevolent individuals, natives of the town. Anson 
G. Phelps, Esq., late of New York, bequeathed to the church 11,000 
for the poor of the town. In 1850 Mr. Tiiomas Case instituted a 

fund of about .f4,500, 
called the Tliomas Case 
Fund, for the suppoi't 
of the gospel ministry. 
John J. Phelps, Esq., 
of New York, in 1870 
bequeathed to the church the sum of 83,000 ; and in 1883 Mr. George 
D. Phelps bequeathed to it the sum of *1,000. 

Amos R. Eno, Esq., of New York, has rc})eatedly shown his liber- 
ality by frequent beneficent acts. In 1880 it was represented to him 
that the ::ociety owed •'1*1,000 ; he 
forthwith drew his check for that 
amount and sent it to the treas- 
urer. At the beginning of the 
year 1883 he purchased the "old Simon Wolcott farm," fitted up and 
put in repair its buildings, and stocked it, and as a new year's gift 
presented it to his native town for a " iiome for the poor of the town." 

In 1883 alwut 83,000 was raised by subscription, largely by the 
efforts and munificence of Horace Bclden, Esq., whicli was appropri- 
ated to the decoration of the meeting-house, including beautiful cathe- 
dral windows, together with a memorial window to perpetuate tlie 
names and memorv of the deceased pastors, — the Rev's Dudley and 
Timothv Woodbridge, Samuel Stebbins, and Allen McLean. 

About the beginning of the present century the Methodists began 
to hold religious meetings in this town. At first, itinerant preachers 
held services in school-houses or private dwellings once in three or 
four weeks. Their first quarterly meeting was in 1818, at Farms 
Village. In 1840 the present chiirch was built. Its cost was about 
13,000, obtained by subscription from all parts of the town. The 
church has been greatly prospered under the preacliing of a succession 




^^'''^^c^t,-^^"^^ 'i^i^ 



siMsijiKV. 355 

ol' talrutfd and cariu'st pustDis. In 188:2 liic cluircli cdilice was 
remi)d»'llcd and renovaU'd at a cost of al)out •'3'4,00(), laised In' siilj- 
scription of its niomhcrs and the jrifts (A outsi<lc friends, J. (). 
Piioips, Ksq., contributed larirely in time and money. In 18fi8 Mrs. 
Jemima Woodbritlire left to tiie cluircii. at her decease, a bpf|ucst of 
.•ii!3,000. In 1883, by the will of Mrs. Pbiloniela Coddard, it was made 
her rcsidiiai-y l(>gatec, receiving;- tlu ■rel)y alioiit >^14.r)()0. 

The Haptist' Cluirch of taritl'villc was oriranized May 81, 1883, 
with a membership of thirteen persons. The followinir named pastors 
liavc successivclv olliciated : The Rev's Charles Willet, William Held, 
Asahel Chapin, R. 11. ^hiine, R. II. Holies, Charles F. Holl)rook, Joseph 
Hnrnett, Mr. Lovell, William (ioodwin, and Mr. Nichols. The first 
church was burned in 1870. Anew one was built in the .spring of that 
year, and dedieateil in Sc|)tember. 

During and in eonseiiuenee of tlic controversy in regard to the loca- 
tion and building of the old meeting-house, a few individuals withdrew 
from the old society in 1740, and organized an Episcopal church in Scot- 
land, then in Simsbury. In 1743 tlieir number was largely increased. 
The |)arish took the name of St. Andrew's, and is one of the oldest in 
the State. In 1808 an offshoot of this church sprang up in Tariffville, 
which has nearly supiilanted the old stock : many members of tlie old 
society of St. Andrew's, uniting, have formed a new society and erected 
a beautiful church edifice at tiiat ])lace, at a cost of al)out §22,(100. 

In 1847 the Roman Catholics of Tariffville and vicinity, umler the 
charge of the Rev. Luke Daly, erected a church in that place, which was 
well sustained under the care of his successors, — the Rev. Mr. Dwyer, 
and Fathers Fagan, Walsh, and Sheridan. A few years since a new 
church was erected, the old one being too small, and recently a new pas- 
toral residence has been purchased. The society is in a flourishing con- 
dition. Iteml)races Sinisbury, Granby, and East (Jranby ; ami included 
in the mission are Bloomfield, Scotlaml, and Cottage drove. The pres- 
ent resident pastor is the Rev. Father Joiin F. Quinn, under whose 
acceptable and elVicient lal)ors the ciiurch is exceedingly prosperous. 
Father Quinn has under his care about twelve hundred persons, of 
whom about si.\ hundred belong to the Tariffville Mission. 

At a town-meeting held in 1701 " a Committee was a])pointed to 
agree about the measures and method of a School, and chuse a School- 
master." They agreed witli .John ."^later, Sr., '"to keep said school : to 
teach such of s^ town Children as arc sent, to read, writ, and to cypher, 
or to say the rules of arithmatick." The school was to be kei)t at two 
places alternately, three months in a place ; the first .school was to begin 
at the Plain, and the next at AVetaug, on the west side of the river, 
and the schoolmaster to be allowed forty shillings per month during 
six months. 

In 1703-1704 tiie committee " agreed that there shall be four School- 
dames — two at Wetaug, one on ech side the riuer, one at Samon brook 
<fe one for Terries & at Scotland — and a schoolmaster : and such par- 
ants as send their children from other parts of the town to said School- 
master, shall allow fourpence per week for every child so sent : each 
of the Schools to he kee])t up live month in one year, at least." 

In 17'>7 the town voted to stMpiestor tlie copper-mines, anil to a)ipro- 



356 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUls'TY. 

priate and work them for their own use ; and that before any division 
of the copper, refined or wrought, should be made, " the tenth part of 
it shall be taken from it, for pious uses ; viz. two thirds of it shall be 
to the maintaining an able schoolmaster here in Simsbury ; the other 
third part shall be given to the use of the Collegiate School erected 
within the Colony, to be improved as the trustees of said school shall 
see good." Probably neither the college nor the schoolmaster received 
any great pecuniary benefit from this source ; but the act is a mani- 
festation of the interest felt by tiie men of that generation in the cause 
of education. For many years there have been twelve school districts 
in tlie town, where schools have been maintained most of the year in 
comfortable and convenient school-houses. In 1865 the three districts 
of the village of Tariff ville were consolidated, and a union school- 
house erected, at an expense of more than fl3,000, where a graded 
school of three departments was established. It has since that time 
been permanently and successfully conducted by teachers of ability and 
experience, and is an ornament to the village and an honor to those 
who were active in its establishment. At the centre of the town Mr. 
J. B. McLean has established the kSimsbury Academy, a boarding and 
day school for boys and girls. The school is now (1884) in its fifth 
year of successful operation. In addition to the ordinaiy means of 
education, it may not be amiss to mention the Simsbury Free Library, 
established and opened to all the inhabitants of Simsbury, through the 
munificent gift of $3,000 by Amos R. Euo, Esq., whose other noble acts 
of beneficence to the church and the town have been previously men- 
tioned. The library contains a choice selection of books, which from 
time to time is added to as new works are published. 

In the French and Indian War, which began alwut 1756, Simsbury 
contributed its full proportion of troops. A company was raised in 

this town for the protection 
of Crown Point ; and on 
the muster-roll of General 
Lyman's regiment, at the 
Mon- 




-jTrUi^V^^j/A^ siege and capture of Mo; 

/ X treal, are the names of 

^^ niunber of Simsbury me: 

< 111 March, 1762, Nog 



men. 
jah 

Humphrey was commissioned captain of a company raised in and about 
Simsbury, which formed a part of General Lyman's regiment in his ill- 
fated expedition to Havana. Elilui Hum])hrey went out as second lieu- 
tenant of the com])any, 
and in three days after 
his arrival there, was 
appointed adjutant of 
the regiment. His 
brother, Nathaniel Humphrey, enlisted as a private, and on his arrival 
at Havana was appointed ensign of Captain Humphrey's company. 
Tliere were in the regiment eight hundred and two men. On the 16th 
of October only forty were reported fit for duty. 

In the War of the Revolution, few, if any, of the towns of the State 
furnished a larger number of enlisted men than Simsburv. With great 




SIMSRIRY. 357 

iinaiiiinilv the iiiluibitiuits of tliis town esiioiiscci tlic cause of freedom, 
and reiidiTcd essential aid in the great stru<r.',de for independence. 
Wiien tlie news of the passage of the Boston Port Bill was received 
in this country, meetings were held in many places to express indigna- 
tion at this arbitrary measure. On the receipt of the intelligence iu 
Simsburv, nearly a year before the beginning of hostilities, a town- 
meeting \vas called, Aug. 11, 1774, and ilezekiaii Ilum|)hrey, PJsq., was 
made moderator. Resolutions \vere passed avowing loyalty to King 
George, but declaring that Parliament had acted without legal right; 
favoring a Continental Congress, and calling for subscriptions to aid the 
people of Boston ; and that tliere 

might be no disguise of jiuljlic ^-~y^ ^-7^ /) 

sentiment, the resolutions were ^^/-C^P^^^/-c%0't'^y/T^ ^,^.—-~- 
ordered printed in the " Con- /J /f /^ 

nccticut Conrant." On the 10th // A // 

of April, 177;"), the lir.st lilood ^ ^ 

of tlic Revolution was shed, and in three weeks from that time a com- 
pany of more than one hundred men, under the command of Captain 
Abel Pettibone, was raised in Simsbury and on the march to Boston. 
Many of the men were engaged in the battle of Bunker Hill. Immedi- 
ately after this battle an- 

/f /? if yfPM-^ /) ^^ 'i~ other ciimpany was raised 

^.^rU-iX/ 0<ynVOor^ "Q*^ ''•^' <'"'li'^<i"t'nt, under com- 

mand of Captain Elilui 
Humphrey. This consisted of seventy-five men. Other troops were 
raised in 1776. From a return of the Eighteenth Regiment of militia, 
under command of (\jlonel Jonathan Humjjhrey, it appears that in 1777 
two iiundred and sixty-four of its men were in service in the Continental 
army. There was in the regiment an aggregate force of eleven hun- 
dred and forty-nine men, more than three quarters of whom Ijelonged 
to Simsbury ; and all of whom were, in 177)^, called into active service 
at antl about New York. Captain (afterward 
Jlajor-(ieneral) Noah Phelps also raised a 
company from this town. 

In the War of 1812 many from Simsbury 
were called into the service, and the Simsbury artillery company, under 
command of Captain Sereno Pettiboue, marched to New London for the 
defence of that town. 

When the existence of the Government was put in peril by the Great 
Rebellion, tlie ynung men of Simsbury rushed to the front. Pursuant 
to a call dated April 2:2, only ten days after the first gun was fired, "a 
meeting of the citizens of Simsbury and its vicinity, without regard to 
]irevious political opinions, who were in favor of npliDlding tlie present 
Government and Constitution of the United States at all hazards, was 
iield at the town-hall iu .^^imsliury, to consult with reference to the 
present crisis in our national affairs." The meeting liaving organized, 
a committee of live gentlemen was apj)ointed " to receive and distribute 
such funds as may be subscril)ed for the benefit of those who liave 
enlisted, or may hereafter enlist, in defence of tlie Government ; or for 
the stii)port or assistance of the families of such as have families." On 
that day nine citizens of ."^imsbury were nuistered into the service of the 
Tnited .'^tates by vohmtarv culistmi'ut. About >;1,1()<) were immediately 



JOaU^^ 



358 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



subscribed, and the distribution began. It was a beautiful manifes- 
tation of patriotic sympathy. Then the town took up the benevolent 
work, and voted bounties to its volunteer soldiers. At the close of the war 

Simsbury had fur- 
nished about two 
hundred young 
men to maintain 
the integrity of 
the Union. 

Under the Colo- 
nial Government 
manufacturing 
was not encour- 
aged. In 1728 
Samuel Higley 
petitioned the 
General Court for 
the exclusive 

right to manufac- 
ture steel for a 
term of years, set- 
ting forth that 

^ I n) j C ^ -^^^^ >s^ great pains and 

' V \ xlV 1 Nj/^^ >) r^ *^ j<^ costs, found out 

and obtained a 
curious art by 
which to convert, 
change, and trans- 
mute common 
iron into sood 
steel." The Gen- 
eral Court grant- 
ed a patent, giving 
him the exclusive 
privilege of mak- 
ing steel for the 
term of ten years, 
conditioned that 
he should bring 
it to " a good and 
reasonable per- 
fection " within 

two years. With these terms he complied, as to quantity and cpuility ; 
but on the whole the experiment was not a success. Twelve years 
afterward Thomas Fitch 
and others obtained 
like privilege ; but by 
reason of the death of 
the Rev. Timothy Woodbridge, who was their scientific man, the busi- 
ness was given up, though it had been partially successful. Their 




l^jSrrm^ 



SIMSBI'RY. 



359 



works were on ll(i|> []y,H,k, aliovc llic mills. Tliese were a jrrist-iiiill 
and saw-mill erected by Thomas Liurlier ami others in 1079, under a 
contract witli tlie town wherein- it jrave them '-the free use of • lio])pe 
Hrooke" diirin.ix (lie time tiiev sliall keep iip y'= said Mills in good repair," 
with other conditions speeilied therein. Tlu'.se mills have been kept up 
from that tim(> to the jjre.sent, — more than two hundred years. 

_ Aside from the.se and some other saw-mills, but little, if anv, ma- 
chinery w-as put in operation prior to the Revolution. Evervthinir was 
wrought by hand, — literally mannfacUired. Axes, hoes, foi'ks, spades, 
ploughshares, scythes, all these were made by the hand of the black- 
sinitli. Every farm-house was a manufactory. Here the domestic or 
itinerant tailoress made up the winter clothing foi' the men and boys, 
and the peripatetic shoemaker, with his bench and lapstoue, made "up 
the shoes. Spinning- 
wheels imzzed in ev- 
ery house ; skeins of 
woollen and linen 
yarn hung on the 
walls ; on the loom- 
seat, now supplanted 
by the organ and 
piano, the matron 
plied the .shuttle and 
the treadles. The 
cloth for the family, 
blankets and sheets, 
table-cloths and tow- 
els, bed-curtains and 
window-curtains, tlau- 
nels and carpets, — 
when carpets came 
in vogue, — all were 
woven there. Else- . 
wiiere grandmothers 

were seated by the tmi: om) niioxsoN iioise. 

" little wheel " spin- 
ning Hax ; anil motheis in the corner carded wool or tow, or hatchelled 
fla.\. In the morning (lie lawu was white with "pieces of linen" 
spread out to bleach, and the meadow covered with Ha.x to rot. All 
these were the work of women. They made the Ijread, the butter, the 
cheese; no bakery then, no creamery. They milked the cows, thev 
cooked over an open lire, they washed and ironed, they scrubbed the 
floors and .sanded them, they made .soap and can<lles. thev raked hav, 
they i)ulled flax, they dug potatoes. When they visited, they "carried 
their work;" when ihey sat by the fireside to rest, they were knitting, 
or patching the children's clothes, or darning their .stocking.s. Of an 
autumn evening they were paring apples and ipiartcring them for the 
children "to string" and hang in the morning in festoons on the 
sunny outside walls. All were busy, — always ,bu,sy ! What those 
women wrought is simply amazing. Xo wondei- the women and girls 
of the ]iresent generation are weak and inlirni : their mothers and 
grandmothers were overworked and physically exhausted. 




360 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

During and after the War of 1812 several manufactures were under- 
taken, and prosecuted with varied success. At the Falls a wire-factory 
was put in operation. Similar works were afterward established on 
Hop Brook above the mills, in connection with which a card-factory 
was put in operation near the house of the Hon. Elisha Phelps, who 
was one of the proprietors. At first hand-cards, afterward machine- 
cards, were manufactured. Clark & Haskell and Thomas Case were 
likewise engaged in the same business. During this period the women 
and children of the town found employment in " setting card-teeth." 
This, however, was soon superseded by machinery. 

About the beginning of the present century the making of tin-ware was 
an important industry, and successfully prosecuted. Titus Barber was 
for many years engaged in this business, and was largely successful, send- 
ing his wares by pedlers into the South, and realizing great pi'ofits. 

About the year 1836 Richard Bacon, Esq., a prominent citizen, in 
connection with partners in England, introduced the manufacture of 
safety-fuse at East Wetaug. After successfully prosecuting the busi- 
ness a number of years, Mr. Bacon sold his interest to the Rev. Joseph 
Toy, who soon afterward removed the works to Hop Brook, at the 
centre of the town, where, imder the firm name of Toy, Bickford, & Co., 
a large manufacturing establishment has licen liuilt u]i, employing about 
one hundred hands. 

Tariffville, in the extreme northeast corner of the town, has had a 
varied history. With a water-power and other facilities unsurpassed, 
many works of manufacture have been carried on there during the last 
half-century. Cotton and woollen goods, carpets, screws, and other 
articles have been manufactured by large companies with more or less 
success. In 1881 the property was purchased by the Auer Silk Manu- 
facturing Company, organized, with a capital of $200,000, for tlie 
purpose of manufacturing dress-goods, tapestries, etc. The name is 
now changed to the Hartford Silk Company. Another company has 
since been -organized for the purpose of manufacturing silk thread, etc. 
Both these companies are understood to be prosecuting their business 
with present success and the brightest prospects. They give employ- 
ment to a large number of hands. 

In agricultural industries and products Simsbury, in comparison 
with other towns, occupies a very favorable position. Its soil and situ- 
ation render it adajited to every branch of agriculture. Grass, grain, 
fruit, and root culture are alike successful. The growing of Indian 
corn and tobacco is particularly adapted to the soil. They were both 
considerably cultivated by the aborigines here, and their successors 
have continued to give special care to these crops. Tobacco, always 
commanding cash at some price, is a tempting as Avell as a suc- 
cessful product. Nor is its culture limited to a recent date. In the 
middle of the last century it was an important article of culture and 
commerce in this town. At that time, for many years in succession, 
" packers of tobacco " were annually chosen in Simsbury. Stock-grow- 
ing and the dairy must not be overlooked. In these, Simsbury is not 
behind other towns. In 1882 a company was formed for the establish- 
ment of a creamery, which is now doing a successful and prosperous 
business. During the last twenty-five years a great advance has been 
made in scientific and practical farming in this town. 



SIMSBURY. 



361 




Many of tlic descendants of llic first settlers of Simshiiry liavc filled 
important places in the history of the State and Nation. Anionj^ these 
was Colonel David Ilnin|>lirey, the companion and aide of Washington, 
])oet and historian, anii)assador to I'ortugal and S|)ain, whence he 
bronsiiit the nierino sheep to this conntry. lie was a lineal descendant 
of >iiciini"l Ilnmpiuey, the pioneer of Simsbury. Another is Rntlier- 
ford 15. Hayes, late Prrsident of the United States, a descendant of 
George Hayes, one of thr early settlers. 

Simsbury, too, has been the birthplace of many distingui.shcd men. 
Our assigned limits allow the mention of but few of them. Among 
them are : — 

The Hon. Walter Forward. Menii)er of Congress, Conijitrollcr, and 
Secretary of the Treasury, under President Tyler. 

The Rt. ilev. Alexander \'. Oriswold, a distinguished bishop of the 
Episcopal Church, who lived in Boston. 

Anson G. Phelps, Esq., a leading merchant and citizen of New 
York City. 

The Rev. Heman Hum- ^ 

phrey, D.D., late President ^^.^^< 
of Amherst College, a man 
of distinguished literary 
and Christian character. 

The Hon. Elisha Phelps, a leading man in public affairs, and for 
several vcars a Member of Contrress. 

The Hon. Noah A. Phelps, 
late Secretary of State, and 
author of the " History of 
Simsbury." 

The Hon. Jefferey 0. 
Phelps, a brother of the last-mentioned, who, though entirely self- 
educated, became a respectable lawyer, and at the age of forty-five 
was admitted to the bar. He rcpeat- 
edlv 
the 
years 
bate 

The Hon. .lohn S. Phelps, son of the Hon. Elisha Phelps. For 
eighteen years consecutively Mr. Phelps was a leading Meml)er of Con- 
gress from Jlissouri. and for four 
years Governor of that State. 

The old house now occupied 
by Dr. Lucius I. Barl)cr, situated 
on the east side of the ^lain Street, 
in Simsbury, is of historic interest. It was built in colonial times, 
in the reign" of King George HI., in 1762, by the Rev. Benajah Roots, 
at that time the distin- 
guished pastor of the Con- 
gregational Church. It was 
occupied by Mr. Roots till 
his dismissal in 1773, when 
it was purchased by Major 
Elihu Humphrey, grandfuther of the present occuimnt. 




^'A^n< 




Ck^ 



^^^ 



,vas admitted to the bar. He repeat- 

;dlv represented his native town in //^ . J y 

:he State legislature, and for several ,^^^^;^ C^^/U^ 

rears held the offices of Judge of Pro- ^ /^ 

late and Judirc of the Count v Court. ^ 





Maior Hiun- 



QU^^^^fy vxnJ'^t^fi^'^ 



362 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

phrey was a distinguished soldier and officer in tlie French and Indian 
War, at Montreal and Ticonderoga; and was adjutant of Colonel 
Lyman's regiment at the capture of Havana. 

At the outbreak of the War of the Revolution Major Humphrey 
raised a company, and on the eve of their march to Boston paraded 
them before this house, where he then lived, for the ])urpose of giving 
them the opportunity of taking a tender leave of their wives and chil- 
dren and dearest friends. The scene is represented by one of their 
number as affecting and almost heart-rending. 

Major Humphrey was in active service till the battle of Long Island, 
when he was wounded and taken prisoner, and confined in the Old 
Sugar-House, where he was so barbarously treated that he died soon 

after his return 
to his old home. 
In 1785 the house 
passed into the 
n possession of Mr. 

Oliver Brownson, 
a distinguished composer and teacher of sacred music. For many 
years successively he was elected by the Ecclesiastical Society " Quoris- 
ter, to lead the singing, in the Society." In this house he printed and 
published his celebrated 
singing - book,^ which 
came into common use. 
He was the father of the 
Hon. Greene C. Bronson, 
late Chief Judge of the 
Supreme Court of New York, who was born in this house, and resided 
here till the age of sixteen years. 

The next occupant was the late Colonel Calvin Barber, who, under 
a contract with the State, in 1802 erected the walls of the old prison, 

" at the copper- 
mines," which in 
1773 had been 
purchased by the 
colony " for a 

public gaol and work-house for the use of the Colony, and called 
and named New-Gate Prison." Colonel Barber was described by his 
pastor, in an obituary notice, as " a substantial pillar of the church 
and society." He was the father of the present occupant, and died in 
the old house in 1846. 

1 "Select Harmony," first published in 1783. 



^.^.fV^(X..jVw 



^^^/^^L, 




"C:?W777 i^.^^-^^— 



xxir. 

SOUTHINGTON. 

BY STEPHEN WALKLEY. 

SOUTHINGTON, situated in tlic southwest corner of Hartford 
County, is bounded on the north by Bristol and Phainville, cast by 
New l>ritain, I>erlin,and Meriden, south by Meiiden and Clieshire, 
and west bv AVolcott. Tiie Quinnipiac River, risini;- near tlie boundary 
between Farniington and PlainviUe, runs nearly tlirough its centre 
from north to south. The l']iji;iit Mile River, rising in Bristol, flows 
in at the northwest corner of Southinsjton, then tailing a southeasterly 
course joins the Quinnipiac at the village of Plantsville. After this 
junction the river bears a little to the east of south across the Clieshire 
line, then turning to the east flows through a gorge in a ridge of sand- 
stone into Wallingford. The jjrincipal tributaries of these streams are 
Roaring Brook from the west ami .Misery Broolc from the east. 

The town is about six miles long from north to south, and in its 
widest part the same distance in breadth ; having an area of about 
thirty-five square miles. Tt is skirted by mountains on either side. 
The Eastern Mountain is a tra]) dyke, — the end of tiie Mount Plolyoke 
Range. At the north end of the town it is little more than 500 feet 
in height. Gradually rising toward the south, it terminates in abrupt 
cliffs called tiic Hanging Hills, the western and highest of which is, 
by barometric measurement, 995 feet above sea level. At the northern 
end water-lime is aljundant. Copper and silver also appear near here 
in tantalizing iiuantities, and iron, barytes, bituminous coal, limestone, 
and fossiliferous slate have been sparingly found. The Western Moun- 
tain, a continuation of the Green Mountain Range, is a ridge of granite 
and granitic gneiss, having an average height of about 700 feet. The 
granite is mostly stratified, with the strata often greatly contorted. 
On tliis mountain, near Roaring Brook, is a cave called Alum Rock, in 
wiiich alum is i»resent in such quantities as to be easily detected by 
a touch of tli(> tongue. 

The sandstone between the mountains has been worn away by 
glacial action and C(jvered by alluvium, except at the liase of tlie trap 
and in a ridge called Wolf Hill, whicli extends from the north end of 
the town to the confluence of the Quinnipiac and Eiglit Mile rivers. 
As a rule tliis sandstone is shaly, contains mudi potash and consider- 
al)lc magnesia, and on ex])Osure to the surface readily cruinliles into a 
ju'oductive soil. Near Hanging Hills, iiowevcr, it is a coarse conglom- 
erate suitable for luiildiiig-stone. Its strata have a uniform dip to the 
east of about tweutv-live degrees. The alluvium between the mountains 



364 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

is deposited at an average level of about 225 feet above the sea.' A 
large part of its surface consists of two plains. Tlic first, lying east of 
the Quinnipiac, formerly called " Nashaway plain," is 225 feet high, and 
the second, in the southwest part of the town, anciently named the 
" little plain," is 216 feet high. The tops of the hills near Southington 
Centre are mostly on a level with Nashaway plain, — only one, the 
highest, being thirteen feet higher.^ The northern jjart of the town 
is a low plain, probably 160 feet high. The soil of these plains is 
sandy. A narrow belt of clay extends from the West Mountain half 
across the valley near the southern part. The strongest land, well 
adapted to grazing, is on Wolf Hill and at the bases of the mountains 
on either side where the sandstone comes near the surface. 

All the evidence so far collected goes to show that the territory now 
included within the limits of the town was occupied by Indians, at least 
as a hunting-ground, long before the appearance of the white man. 
Arrow and spear heads have been picked up by the hundreds, and flint 
chips by thousands. Soapstone pottery, stone axes, adzes, hoes, flesh- 
ers, hammering- stones, pestles, and stone drills are not rare ; and even 
two small fragments of clay pottery such as occur sometimes in south- 
ern mounds have been found. It may be said in general that every 
sandy plateau near running streams has yielded specimens abundantly.^ 
On a long, flat-topped hill, overlooking an extended valley, arrow-heads 
have been gathered in such quantities as to suggest the probability that 
a battle was once fought there or that it was a favorite camjjing- 
ground. 

There are but three Indian names retained in the town, — JVcxihawai/, 
a corruption of Nashauie (signifying " the half-way ]jlace ") ; Compound, 
or Acompotind, the name of an Indian who in 1674 signed a deed to 
the proprietors of Mattatuck (Waterbury) ; and Wunxis, the name of a 
spring in the southwest part of the town. According to Dr. Trumbull, 
all Indian names had a meaning, though owing to subsequent perversion 
of the words it cannot always be traced. Nashaway is the name of 
an extended plain just south of Southington Centre. It was probably 
given because it is " half-way " between the two mountains, or because 
it was a sort of debatable ground between two tribes of Indians. Com- 
pound (perverted to Compounce) is the name of a large pond near 
which the sachem of that name lived. The etymology of Wunxis may 
have been derived from Ongkoue, meaning " beyond ; " or Wangun, 
meaning " crooked, bent." In either case it is impossible to tell 
whether the name originally indicated some peculiarity of the place, 
or of the Indian who Iiad his wigwam there. Tradition favors the 
latter supposition. 

No Indian troubles ever occurred in the town. Two palisaded forts 
are said to have been built, but it is probable that they were intended 
for defence from distant tribes. Fear of the Mohawks led those li^•ing 

1 The altitudes here given are above the Government bench mark established by Major- 
General G. K. Warren as reported by George H. Mauer, engineer in charge of New Haven 
Harbor improvements for the year 1871. It is mean low tide at Long Wharf, New Haven. 

2 Wolf Hill is 322 feet high. 

8 The largest collections in town are those of Lumau Andrews, Howard Ackart^, Amos 
Shepard, and Jacob Meserole. 



SOUTHINGTON. 3G7 

here to welcome the whites, and the first settlers seem to have succeeded 
in establishinfr and maintaining friendly relations. 

When Farminiiton was chartered, in 1G40, there lay south of the 
Pequabiiek River a tract of land which, in e"nii)arison with the rich 
alluvial meadows farther north, jiresentcd no attractions to settlers. 
It reached from mountain to mountain cast and west, and extended 
al)out ten miles south to the north line of Wallinjrford ' (now Cheshire), 
which the New Haven colony had |uireliase<l of the Indians two years 
i)cforc. This tract was inciuded in the cliarter of Farminjrton, under 
the ])hrase " with liijcrty to improve ten miles further." For more 
than fifty vears it lav unimiirovcd. Before the year 1700, however, the 
AValliuixford settlement had sjiread to Meridcn and Cheshire, and com- 
munication was estahlished through this valley I.etween Farmin!,'ton 
and Wallingford cm the lines of two or more well-marked trails. 

About the year ItlOil Samuel Woodrufl', a son of one of the original 
proprietors of " Farmington, established himself at a place afterward 
called Pudding Hill. He built a house there, and brought his family 
from Farmington in ltJ98. It is confidently believed that he was the 
first settler within the limits of Southington. The site of his house 
is still pointed out a few rods north of the residence of Adna N. 
Woodruff, a descendant of the fifth generation. 

Between 1700 and 1712 houses were Iniilt at Clark Farms, North 
End, near Soutiiiiurton Centre, and possibly at Marion. The only one of 
these still standing is the "John Root place," now owned by Washburn 
Dunham, which is the oldest house in y^ ^ 

the town, being probaljly about one huii- /A, j^ ^ /f^ o''o9' — 

dred and seventy years old.- The house pj *^ [^ 

now occupied bv Mr. Levi C. Neal was t/ V^ 

probablv built about the year 1720, and is still in a good state of pres- 
ervation. The family names of the first settlers were Woodruff, Root, 
Bronson or Brownson, Newell, Scott, Barnes, Clark, Smith, and Cowles. 

• The first five 
^<,,,,^«S5Ji»-c_.':^T^**^^'^^^'''^« y^S^l^ came from Farm- 

mainder from Wallingford and New Haven. As early as 1720 this 
territory had acquired the name of Panthorn ; and so lightly was it 
esteemed for the purposes of agriculture that the simile " as poor as 
Panthorn" was common in Farmington.'' 

In 1722 a large part of the present town was surveyed, and divided 
among the eighty-four proprietors of Farmington.-' The amount allotted 
to each was in projwrtion (in area) to his list. The location was de- 
termined by lot. By this survey most of the space between the moun- 
tains was divided into three tiers running north and south, each tier 
being four hundred and twelve rods wide and a little more than five 

' W'allingfonl inoludod at tlint [lerio.l most of tlic land in tlio present towns of Walling- 
ford, >[oriden, and Clicsliirc, and a jiart of Prosjioct. 

2 Timlow's " .Ski-tilua of Southington." 

» According to tradition, a Cheshire man who came into Farmington one hot day asserted 
that in pulling through the sands at the South End his oxen pautcd to the tijw of their 
horns. 

< Farmington Records, Field Book of Stephen Walkley, St., county surveyor. 



368 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



and a half miles long. Two subsequent divisions took up all the land 
which had been assigned to Southington parish up to 1739.1 

In 1721 the inhabitants of Panthorn asked of the Farmington 
society leave to set up preaching among themselves for the winter 
season; and in consideration of their having hired Mr. Buck^ to preach 
among them, one third of the tax laid upon them for Mr. Whitman's 
support was abated. In 1722 they begged for a separate ecclesiastical 

society, and the Farm- 

<* 










^ 










ington society " made 
chovce of Mr John 
Hooker, Lcf Sam'' 
Wadsworth, & Eus° 
Sam"' Newel for theyer 
committee to consider 
ct make theyer Reply 
or draw up what they 
Judg Reasonable con=' 
cerning a motion made 
liy y" southern ffarmers 
moueing this Society 
for theyer consent that 
they might become A 
ministerial Society 
amongs themselves," 
said committee's opin- 
ion being " that con- 
sidering y' weekness & 
Inability .of y' said 
ffarmers at y^ present 
it is Nearest theyer 
duty to content them- 
selves for y" way they 
are Now In for another 
year or years/' One- 
half the petitioners' tax 
was abated at this time,^ 
and in December, 1723, 
the old society reluc- 
tantly consented to the 
formation of a separate 
organization. 

In May, 1724, a me- 
morial signed by Ben- 
jamin Denton for him- 
self and the rest of the 
' inhabitants of Pant- 
horn was presented to the General Assembly, begging for '' the privi- 
lege of a parish." The petition was granted in two weeks' time. In 

1 These were Little Plain division and Shuttle Meadow divisinn. 

2 The Rev. Daniel Buck, of Wethersfield, who was graduated at Yale in 1718. 
8 State Archives. 







sorTiiiNcrrox. 



369 



ri'spoiisc to a j)t'titii)ii ill 172(i liborty was irrantcd to lay a tax of "one 
jR'Huy per acre per aniuiiu on all iiiiini])rovc(l lauds for the space of 
lour years eusuinj^;" aud llie uauu' SouUiiugton, a contraction of 
South Farmin<fton, was irivcn to the new society. For the next fifty- 
three years the history ol the town in its civil ca])acity is ineluded in 
that of Faruiiuutou. Although a separate parish, it continued a part 
of the old town, and all existing records as to civil all'airs are depos- 
ited with the Faruiiugton archives. From records of the court of Jared 
Lee, who appears to liave been the principal resident justice from 1750 
to 1775, it would seem that offences of a nature purely ecclesiastical 
formed a prominent feature in civil trials. i Among the cases tried by 
him are some for " neglect of public woiship," '• rude and idle behavior," 
" whispering and laughing" in meeting, " laugliing between meetings," 
'•breach of Sabbath," " playing cards," '•swearing," ••drinking strong 
liquor to excess," etc. 

In 1771 the inhaliitauts of the society of Southinglon memorialized 
the General Assembly for incorporation as a separate town.^ The town 
of Farmington olijected to this movement, and the request of the me- 
morialists was refused. It was renewed in 1772, aud again refused, 
lu 177'.l a third memorial was presented, fortified by the copy of a con- 
senting vote of Farmington, pressed with such cogent reasons for the 
step that the Assembly yielded. 




I ^ 



PRESENT BOUNDARY -^^^"^ 
50C'ETVeOUNOAHYiT^4 •HH.lii'H 
SOCICTr B0UN0AfIXi;40 IXUU 



The accompanying map gives the successive outlines of the town, with 
varied shadings indicating the three divisions among the ])ro]>rietor3 
mentioned on page 367. As originally incorporated it was represented 



' These rcconls nre now in the iKissessiou of K. A. Hurt, M.D. 
VOL. n. — 24. 



■•' State archives. 




370 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

as about seven miles from north to south and eight miles from east 
to west, and its grand list as being nearly twenty thousand pounds. 
The north and south lines have since been but slightly changed, and 
the distance north and south was probably a rougli statement of the 
east lino. The distance east and west Avas more accurately given. 
The town was then wider than now ; a stri|) about two miles wide 
was taken from the west side in 1796, when Wolcott was incorpo- 
rated. This strip had been taken from the Southington society 
in 1770, to help constitute the society of Farmingbury, which was 
formed fi-om Southington and Waterbury. When Farmingbury was 
incorporated as a town, in 1796, its name was changed to Wolcott,^ 
in honor of Oliver Wolcott, who was then lieutenant-governor of the 
State and gave the casting vote in favor of incorporation. 

The iirst town-meeting of Southington was held Nov. 11, 1779 ; 
Jared Lee, Esq., was chosen moderator, and John Curtiss, Esq., clerk. 
^^ The first select- 

' 'y y^ '^y men chosen were 

T-^-^ ^M>/T ^^^-^-^^^^■"^'^ ' Jonathan Root, 

I 'y // ' Major Asa Bray, 

V. Or Captain Daniel 

Lankton, Captain Zacheus Gillett, Ensign Justice Peck. Samuel An- 
drus was chosen town clerk, and Timothy ,„y^ 

Clark treasurer. The first constables were ^,--'^5^2/ •'^^.^z-^is^s- 
Amos Root, Ensign Job Lewis, and Mark ^ .»nt^^^=- 

Harrison. The number of inliabitants at o^ 

this time was probably nearly the same as three years later. Accord- 
cry , ^^ ing to the census of 1782 there were in 

c/~.cx^A.e.oy ^Z^^u^t^i^!/^ *^"^ town: males under sixteen years of 
'^^ age, 426 ; males above sixteen and under 

fifty, 375 ; males above fifty, 108 ; total number of males, 909 ; total 
number of females, 948 ; aggregate number ^-v,,^ 

of white inhabitants, 1,857; Indians and'-^TT / ^ ^) 

negroes, 27: total, 1,886. The recorded 0^^^^-^=--^ d^^^n^ 
number of persons admitted as fi-eemen in 1780 is 105. Between that 
time and 1791, 107 were added, making 
. in all 212. Others must have ha^iw free- 
-^"'''■'^^ men by virtue of citizenship in Farming- 
ton or elsewhere.^ During the same period, 112 are recorded as 
having taken the oath of fidelity enjoined by law. The law was re- 
pealed in May. 1791. The last to take the oath were Mr. A.saliel 
Hooker and John Bray, who, with Noah Lyman and Valentine Wiglit- 
man, had been admitted as freemen that same day. 

The names of freemen whose descendants of the same surname still 
reside in the town are Andrus, Atkins, Atwater, Beckwith, Barnes, 
Buck, Barrett, Cowles, Crissey, Carter, Cook, Clark, Curtiss, Dunham, 
Finch, Frisbie, Foot, Ooodsell, Grannis, Gridley, Hart, Hitchcock, 
Hall, Johnson, Judd, Jones, Lewis, Merriman, Matthews, Moore, Norton, 
Ncal, Newell, Potter, Pratt, Pardee, Peck, Pond, Porter, Root, Smith, 
Shepard, Thorp, Tyler, Webster, Wightman. 

1 Timlow's Sketches. 

- Neither Jonathan Root nor Asa Bray, members of the first board of seleetmen, is re- 
corded as made freeman in Southington. 



oZ^j^ 



sorriiixciTox. 371 

Fnim ITT'J to the l-1usl' of thf war in 1788 friMiiicnt tuwii-iueptinjis 
were licld, at which a Uirgc sliaro of tlio liusint'ss in'itaiiiod t<> tlic re- 
cruitiiiu; and .sii])])()rt of soUliiTs in tlic Continental army. From the 
latter date to 17U6 there was little husiness transacted Ijcvoml the or- 
dinary routine of town-meet inirs. A noticeable fact in the early history 
of the i)lace is the small niimher of votes east at State ami town elections. 
Such records as have \)vi:n lueserved show that the total vote east was 
seldom equal to half the numher of voters. In ISOO the vote of the 
town at election of jroveinor stood one hundred and thirty-three 
Federal to forty-four Repuhliean. At this time the whole number id 
freemen nnist have been nearly four hundred. After the Federal |»arty 
ceased practically to c.vist, the Whit^' party ruled the town until 1832, 
when the Democrats were for the first time succes.sful. 

Among the conditions im])osed on the ecclesiastical society of 
Panthorn at its oruanization was the raising of one hundred and fifty 
pounds " etiri'ant monry which shall be lawfidly Layd out for y'' Ijuilding 
of s"* (irst meeting House." This was built in or near the present en- 
closure of Oak Hill Cemetery, between 1724 and 1728, and was about 
twenty-six ity sixteen feet, and had neither cellar, ba.sement walls, nor 
steeple, liy 1752 it had become so small and dilapidated that permis- 
sion to build another was obtained ; and this _ y 
was erected in 17.37, just north of when- the ^^£/>t?»>^<-^-^ /^tW-^^ 
soldiers' monument now stands.' A steeple ^ 

was erected and a bell put in in 1707. The present house of wor.ship 

/^y^ (7) ^^'^^ comjileted in June, 1830. The pre- 

• //!?/ yA.,€/^^-z^^^y^ -t^-i^^ ^^^'^ time when the church connected 

with this society was organized is not 
on record so far as known, its earlier records extending back only to 
1728. Its i)astors have been the ^ /j yq 

Rev's Daniel Buck, 1721-172r>; (fX ' A // y 

Jeremiah Curtiss, 172S-1T.")."> : C^ ^^-'^^'L^C oL ■ U^ C6^ 

Benjamiii Chapman, 17.")i)-1774 : 

William Rol)insou, 1780-1S21 ; David L. Ogden, 1821-183(i : Elisha C. 

^ xo ^ Jones, 1837-1872: Heman 

//^^ (^ ^^T^-i-e-^ ^- '^rl«^^' 1873-187(5: Cy- 

<^ -MilanC. Avers, 1880-. The 

present meml)ershi]) is thnie hundred and tweutv-three. 

The written records of the Fir.st Baptist Church 2 Ije-in in 1780. 
On the i)rinted minutes of the Danbury Baptist Association it is called 
" the church of Farmington " up to 17!tO, when twentv-five members are 
reported. In 1801 it is called "the church of Southin'gton and Farming- 
ton." From 181(5 onward it is named '"the church in Southimrton." 
It was transferred to the New Haven Association in 182.5. On the min- 
utes of that association the date of organization is given as 1738, and 

• The locatiiiii of this LiiiMiii); hns ln-.n a grvat siil.jfcl of .Icliate. An olil siinvy of 
Stoplu'ii \Valkl.>y's states : "( oiitrr of Clu'sliir.- Turii]>iko is forty links from .loor of olil ni.i'tlnj;- 
hoii.so, and one Imnilre.l m\A twenly-seveii links west from llio i"r.mt of the new meeting-house, 
on a luit! with the north side of the steeple." This fixes the following faetjf : that the olil 
meeting-housc was one luiiulred and ten feet west of the present one, and that its front door 
was in a line with the north side of the steejile of the latter. 

' Com)«ir.' Timlow's Sketches, pp. -JST-'ilU. 




372 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

thenceforth all Baptist authorities agree in assigning that date. The 
truth seems to be that the body of worshippers from which the church 
was formed were at first scattered from Wallingford to the northeast 
corner of Farmington (now Burlington) ; that for some years whatever 
meetings were held were in private houses at convenient points, draw- 
ing their congregations from Southington, Farmington, Bristol, and 
Wolcott. In 1801 those residing in Wolcott and Bristol came together 
in one church, and those in Hiouthington and Farmington in another. 
When at length records began to be preserved, the Southington church 

was treated as the parent organization. 

The Rev. John Merriman (formerly 

/p/ryi/lmOnn P''^®*'^^' '^^ **^ church in Wallingford) 
\C/f iiJ'' '/^ '^ took up his permanent residence in 
Southington about 1750, and soon 
afterward fitted up a room in his house for Baptist meetings. The 
Baptists in Southington did not sever their legal connection with the 
Congregational Society until 1793. Their first meeting-house was built 
in 1792, on the hill in Center Place. Their present meeting-house was 
finished in 1833. The membership is one hundred and fifty-nine. The 
ministers have been : 

The Eev's John Merriman, 1738-1770; John Wightrnan, 1770-1780; 
Andrew Hopper, 1842-184.3; Samuel Richardson, 1843-1844; Stciihen Gorton, 
1781-1789; Calvin Hulburt, 1790-1795; Daniel Wildman, 1797-1798; Nehe- 
miah Dodge, 1799-1802; Eliada Blakeslee, 1803 (from 1803 to 181.5 occa- 
sional preaching) ; David Wright, 1815-1819 (no records from 1819 to 1824); 
Irenus Atluns, 1827-1839; E.C.Rogers, 1839-1840; S. W. Palmer, 1841- 
1842; Wilham Pattison, 1844-1846; G. W. Derrance, 1847-1848; Daniel 
Robinson, 1849-1853; N. Jiidson Clark, 1854-1856; Joshua Fletcher, 1857- 
1862; J. Barber, 1862-1863; A. L. Freeman, 1864-1873; A. P. Buel, 1874- 
1878; J. E. Wilson, 1879-1880; G. E. Nichols, the present pastor, installed 
Jime 22, 1881. 

" The first sernce of the Episcopal Church," says Timlow, " was 
held at the house of Captain Daniel Sloper, who as early as 1781 had left 
the Congregational society and paid ministerial rates to the Rev. Samuel 
Andrew, ' missionary at Wallingford and adjacent parts.' Several per- 
sons who had desii-ed baptism of children under the Half-way Covenant, 
and had been denied by Mr. Robinson, naturally connected themselves 
with the Episcopal Church, as they were obliged to pay minister's 
rates somewhere." For several vears monthlv services were held, up to 
1787 or 1788. After 1788 the Rev. Reuben 'ives, rector at Cheshire, 
labored here, and in 1701 a church was erected. The first confirmation 
was made in 1816. In 1819 there were forty-four families and thirty 
communicants. In 1828 the parish was united with that of St. An- 
drews, Meriden, and in 1829 the building was consecrated by Bishop 
Brownell. In consequence of a revival in the town in 1831, sev- 
eral members imited with the Baptist and Congregational churches, 
and in 1840 the Unitarian movement absorbed most of the parish. 
Zealous attempts to build it uj) failed, and from 1864 to 1875 regidar 
services were discontinued. In the fall of 1875 the Rev. George Buck, 
now of Northford, Ijcgan services, and was succeeded by the Rev. 
Walter Roberts, now of Ansonia. The mission is now in charge of 



SoT'TIIINcn'ON. 



373 



the Rev. WiUiniu Jolinsoii, <.t" Ihistol, ami (lie niinibcr of actual 
communicants is twenty-live. . , r. , i.- ioon i *v. 

The Univcrsalist Church was oipanizcd Feb. Hi, 1829, under the 
name of "the First Society of United nrctliren in the towns of South- 
iu'^ton and Cheshire," and its ajinual meetintis were to be held a Iter- 
nalelv in those two towns. Its original members in the former place 
were' those who seceded from the Episcopal Church ni 1828, when an 
attempt was made to conduct it in accordance with the doctrines and 
polity of the I'raver-Book. Public services were held in jirivate houses 
for some f.mr vears, but in 1838 the congregation had so dwindled that 
it was thought exi)cdient to disband ; since that time only occasional 
services have Veen held. • -.oin i 

A Unitarian Society was organized in legal form in 184U ; Jesse 
Olnev, the author of school-books, was instnimeutal in its organization, 
and was one of its prominent supporters afterward. After some ten 
years of i)rosperitv the society languished, and in 18o5 was disbanded. 
The pastors were "the Rev's James Richardson, Jr., 184G-184i ; E. G. 
Holland, 18.")0-1853 ; II. J. Hudson, 1853-1855. 

Thoush the Methodist Church of Southington as at present organ- 
ized is ot^comparativelv recent growth, its foundation was laid near the 
beginniuff of the present century. The first class was form.'.l about 
181C), but for nearly forty years only occasional i)rcacliing was enjoyed, 
and meetings were' gene'raUy held at iirivati^ houses. In 18o8 regular 
preachin" services were begiln, which have continued to the present time. 
These were held in halls, a part of the time in Southington Centre and 
a part in Plantsville. The present house of worship was finished in 
18137 The pastors have been: the Rev's S. D. Brown, 1858-1859: 
A B Pettis, 1859-1860; John Barnhart and E. T. Clark, ls.,!t-18t)l : 
F P Tower 1801-1863; William McGurii. 1S63-1864; William A. 
Xattv and S. II. Smith, 1864-1865; A. M. Allen, 1865-1868: I. E. 
Smith, 186,8-1871: R. II. Loomis, 1871-1873; H. E. Burnes, 1873- 
1876- Oeor^c B. nusinberre, 1876-1S78 ; Arthur iMcNieholl, 1878- 
1880; Joseph O. Muuson, 1880-1881; William II. Ptebbins, 1881- 
1883; Joseph Vinton, present pastor. The present full membership 
is one hundred and twentv-thrce, with thirty-three probationers. 

The corner-stone of t'he St. Thomas Roman Catholic Church was 
laid July 4, 1860. The church was finished in December, I860. As 
the congregation increased it was enlarged by the addition of a wing 
on each side, and has now the largest audience-room of any church in 
the town. It has sittings for eight hundred and seventy worshii)i)ers. 
The Rev. Thomas Drac was the first resident priest, from Sept. 4, 1862 
to Oct. 7, 181)7 ; the Rev. P. J. Creighton, from Oct. 7, 1867, to the 
present time. He is now assisted bv the Rev. P. Byrnes. 

The Congregational Church in Plantsville was a colony from the 
Congregational Church in Southington. The society was organized in 
Sept'ember, 1865. The church was organized Dec. 20, 186.5, with sixty- 
three members, mostly from the church in Southington. Their house 
of worship was finished in 1867. The first pastor was the Rev. William 
R. Eastman, 1866-1876 ; the jiresent jiastor, the Rev. L. F. Berry, was 
installed June 13, 1877. The present membership is three hundred and 
three. _ . ,, . 

The Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized in ISi,,. At first 



374 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

services -were held on alternate Sundays in Southington and Plantsville. 
A chapel was finished in 1872, and since that time services have been 
held regularly, — for a part of the time every Sunday, and for the re- 
mainder, once in two weeks. The pastors have been the Rev. G. A. 
Schmidt, from 1867 to 1869, and Charles Graeber (pastor of the church 
in Meriden), from August, 1869, to the present time. Its present mem- 
bership is forty. 

The Baptist Church of Plantsville was a colony from the Baptist 
Church in Southington, and was organized Aug. 13, 1872. Its present 
house of worship was dedicated in 1874. The pastors have been: the 
Rev's W. C. Walker, stated supply from Aug. 13, 1872, to Aug. 1, 
1874; T. A. T. Hamia, from July 1, 1875, to Jan. 1, 1881 ; W. K. Lord, 
from July 1, 1881, to 1884 ; present pastor, the Rev. E. S. Gardner. 
Its present membership is ninety-two. 

The Marion Chapel Association is a body of Christians of various 
denominations, who by reason of their distance from the churches 
to which they belong have associated for the purpose of sustaining 
public worship in their neighborhood. Tiiey have no separate church 
organization. Their chapel was built in 1875. Since that time preach- 
ing has been maintained and a Sunday school regularly held. The 
chapel has sittings for about one hundred and twenty-five. In all these 
churches except the Second Congregational and the First Baptist the 
pastors have recently been changed. 

The first schools were established by the Congregational society. 
For this reason no records are found previous to 1798,^ when school 
societies were established by the General Assembly. Prior to the year 
1780 it is probable that eight — possibly nine — school-houses had been 
erected. In 1798, when the records begin, nine districts were estab- 
lished. There are now eleven districts, in four of which the schools 
ai'c graded. In these schools twenty-three teachers are employed. The 
number of children enumerated in January, 1881, was 1,363 ; the num- 
ber of different scholars registered, 1,183 ; tlie average number regis- 
tered in each term, 907 ; and the average attendance, 697. The first 
school of a higher order was sustained by an organization in 1813 of 
about thirty citizens, under the name of the Grammar School Society. 
A building was erected, but it is not known how long the school con- 
tinued. Two private schools were afterward established in pri\-ate 
houses, one of whicli continued two years, the other, four. In 1833 an 
academy wliere the classics and higher mathematics wore tauglit was 
established in the old Baptist meeting-house, and maintained ten years 
or more. In 1843 an academy was established in a building erected by 
the Congregational society and aided by a fund left by Sally Lewis. 
This continued till succeeded by one further endowed by Addin Lcwis,^ 
who left 115,000 for the purpose, -15,000 of which was for the erection of 
a suitable building. This, named Lewis Academy, was finished in 1858, 
and since 1848, when school societies were abolished, has been under 
the control of the town. In 1882 it was constituted a free high-school. 

1 Dec. 14, 1795, a tax of two farthitigs on the pound was laid for supjioit of scliools. 

'^ Born 1780 ; was gi-aduated at Yale in 1803. He was for ten years tutor in the Uni- 
versity of Georgia, and subsequently removed to Mobile, where he filled many offices of honor 
and was called the "Father of Mobile." He died at New Haven, Conn., in 1842. — Tim- 
low's Sketches. 




SUUTIIINGTON. 375 

Tlioug-h now the ])it\vcr used in its factories is lartrolv steam, tliat 
attractiuii wliicii in tlic last century drew to Soiitliini.'-ton inventive and 
manufacturing talent was the readiness witli wliieli the water-power 
existing near the southern part of the town could be utilized. 'I'lic 
first to be developed was at Atwatcr's mills, near the southern Innit of 
riantsville. About 17')") James 

Hazard erected a fulling-mill on the /) ^ ^ -y^ 
west side of the Quinnipiac at that '^ i^^>^e.-?^\/fa 
point. This he deeded to his son 
Robert in 1704, who sold it to Captain Enos Atwater in 1771.' Captain 
Atwater own.'d land <>n the east side of the river at that point before 
^ this date, and is believed to have 

>- >^ 7^^ previouslv erected a corn-mill there. 

CX7-2<?^ aAZLr-tSLA-^^r^ (,„ i,is .iVath, in 1784, he had there 
two corn-mills and one iiolting-mill. An old i>etition, dated in 1805, 
states that within a few years preceding there had been shipped from 
those nulls to the town" of Cheshire more than four hundred tons of 
meal and flour. The earliest commerce of the town was tlie shipment 
of larsre (juantities of kiln-dried meal from those mills to the West 
Indies? These mills have been run continuously by Caj)tain Enos 
Atwater and his descendants for live generations, in 17li8 Nathan 
Lewis owned a saw-mill at Dickerman's Corners, in the lower part of 
Milldale; and within about ten years from that date there were mills 
at Marion, I'lantsville, and South" I"]nd. Potash works were established 
at South End in 1785 bv Samuel Curtiss. (Jrisl-mills, saw-mills, oil- 
mills, and fulling-mills (Occupied all the jirincipal sites of water-powers 
before the year 1800. Bricks of an excellent (piality were made ])rior 
to 1709 ill South End, about half a mile north of the jiresent brick- 
yard. They were seven inches long, three aii<l a half inches wide, and 
"one and a iialf inches thick. One or two tanneries also existed prior 
to the vear 1800. At first the l)ark was pounded with wooden beetles, 
and liaif-hogsheads were used for vats. 

After this date (and notal)ly during Jefferson's administration) a 
great impetus was given to various manufactures, and all settled at 
these mill-sites. Tin-faced buttons, wire-<\ved buttons, wooden button- 
moulds, combs, spoons, clocks, bellows, andirons, brushes, and shoe- 
makers' lasts were tlie principal articles made. In 17'J5 the manufacture 
of tin-ware began. This gave rise to an industry which has brought the 
town some distinction ami been the foundation of one of the largest 
firms in the State. Tin-ware was made by the use of what arc called 
hand-tools. Edward M. Converse invented some machines which greatly 
reduced the labor reiinired in many o])erations. l>eiiig without eai>ital, 
he secured the assistance of Seth Peck, who began the manufacture of 
the machines in 1829. Tlie business rapidly grew, and proved ipiite 
lucrative. Soon a competitor arose. Solomon Stow, who had been a 
clock-maker, coinnicuced the manufacture of the machines, having 
associated with liim his two sons, under the firm name of S. Stow ct 
Sons. Before this, Seth Peck had died, and the original firm had 
changed to 0. k X. Peck, and later to Peck. Smith, k Co. Wyllys 
Smith left the old firm and joined the new, which became S. Stow it Co. 

' The writtT is iiKlubted for much valuable iufonuation to manuscripts in the jxissession 
of the AtwattT ftiiiiilv. 



376 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

About this time Roswell A. Neal, of Bristol, joined the old firm and intro- 
duced the manufacture of steelyards. Possessed of quick perception, 
shrewd foresight, a marvellously retentive memory, and habits of un- 
tiring industry, he soon proved the ruling power in the business, which 
rapidly outgrew the capital of the partners, and was made a joint-stock 
company. The firm of S. Stow & Co. had likewise grown to a joint- 
stock company, and Orson W. Stow had invented many improvements 
iu the style as well as modes of manufacture of machines, by which the 
smaller firm was able to compete successfully with the larger. At the 
same time a powerful competition in this line of goods had arisen in 
the Roys & Wilcox Company, of East Berlin. After a term of ruin- 
ous competition in piices, these three firms consolidated their interests 
under the firm of the Peck, Stow, & Wilcox Company, having its cen- 
tral location in Southington. Each had previously added to tinsmiths' 
machines and tools various articles of hardware, and the consolidated 
firm found itself in possession of a large business in 1871, at a time 
when business of this kind was on the eve of great prosperity. It has 
since been incorporated, has a capital of $1,500,000, annual sales of 
about $2,000,000, employs about one thousand hands, and has facto- 
ries in Southington, Plantsville, East Berlin, Kensington, and Birming- 
ham, in this State, and in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Micali Rugg began the manufacture of carriage-bolts as a specialty 
in 1839, when one hundred bolts per day were all that one man could 
make. In 1810 he associated with himself Martin Barnes, and the 
two began that series of inventions which have made bolts of all kinds 
cheap and plentiful. The bolt-factories of Southington now turn out an 
average of more than one thousand bolts per day for every man and 
boy employed. Among those who have developed the business are 
Julius Bristol, Henry A. Miller, A. P. & E. H. Plant (afterward the 
Plants Manufacturing Company, which was at one time the largest 
maker of these goods in the Union), Norton Clark & Co., and Clark 
Brothers & Co., the latter now the oldest and largest firm of bolt- 
makers in the town. 

The manufacture of cold-pressed nuts for carriage-bolts as a spe- 
cialty was taken up by J. B. Savage about 1816. He developed the 
business rapidly, until at length hot-pressed nuts were substituted by 
most of the bolt-makers, when he turned his attention to the manufac- 
ture of carriage hardware. 

Coffee-mills were at one time an important part of the business of 
the Plants Brothers, who were pioneers in this line ; but these are now 
made by another firm. 

Henry D. Smith was the first to introduce the manufacture of forged 
carriage hardware. He began about the year 1855, in company with 
Edward Twichell, to make a patent safety-shackle invented by him. 
To this, other forgings of the same class were gradually added. George 
F. Smith became a member of the firm in 1801. Edward Twichell 
died in 1863, and E. W. Twichell became a member of the firm in 
1864 ; and the partnership has lately been still further increased by 
the accession of William S. Ward to the firm. It is now the largest 
firm in the United States which has forged carriage-irons as its entire 
business. 

During the last twenty-five years many other branches have been 



SUUTllIN(iTn.\. 377 

added to the inunufactures aliovc iiiinied. Aiikuil' tlu.'sc inuv be men- 
tioned bar-iron, wrought hinges, nuts, and wasliers, by the ^Etna Nut 
Company ; poeicet cutlery, plated ware, curry-eonil)s, and wood-screws, 
by the Southington Cutlery Company ; ])aper bags, sliip|)ing-tags, and 
brushes, by the Pultz A: Walklcy Company ; carriage hardware and ox- 
shoes, by the Atwater Manufacturing Comjiany : while smaller firms 
make buttons, bricks, piano and organ hardware, and carpet-taeks. 
The cajiital invested in manufactures is now more tlian •¥2,500,000, and 
the annual sales aggregate from $3,000,000 to 1^4,000,000. 

The plains of Southington presented few attractions to the first 
farmers ; yet there were at that time many fertile spots near the 
mountains and on Wolf Hill, which, after the first settlement was 
made, were sought out and soon ai)pr(jpriated. It was found, too, that 
wheat could be'grown on many of the plains ; and from 1722 to 1760 
it was raised in quantities more than sullicient for home consumption. 
The soil of the plains was so sandy, however, tluit its fertility became 
soon exhausted, and rye and Indian corn were substituted for wheat. 
During the next forty years the culture of these two crops was quite 
l)rolltal)!e. One of the flouring-mills made a sjjecialty of kiln-drying 
corn meal and exporting it from the port of New Haven to tlie West 
Indies. Up to the year .1819 a surplus of rye and corn was raised 
here and marketed in Middletown and New Haven. The worn-out 
wheat-lands still bore luxuriant rye, with which they were cropped till 
even that became an unprofitable crop ; since which many fields, which 
formerly yielded wheat, have lain waste, and are now given up to 
pines and white birches. Since the advance of mainifactures, agricul- 
ture has correspondingly declined. Tlie liest farms are now those 
which skirt tlie mountains, and a few spots on Wolf Hill or near the 
rivers: Very little wheat is raised. The prinei])al crops are rye, corn, 
potatoes, apples, and tobacco. The last-named product has greatly in- 
creased within the last twenty yeare, and is the only crop at present 
exported to any considerable extent. 

The number of those who served in the wars previous to the Revo- 
lution eanniit bo ascertained. In Queen Anne's War — 1702 to 1713 — 
were a lieutenant and others. In the old French War, in 17.")0, quite 
a number served, nine of whom died in the service. In the expedition 
under Lord Albemarle against Havana, January, 1762, several from 
Southington enlisted. When tlie town was incorporated, in 1770, one 
of its first acts in town-meeting was to ofTer a Ijounty of thirty bushels 
of wheat, and an allowance of five Inishels of wlunit for each month's 
service, to each ai)le-bodied man who would enlist for three years in the 
Continental army. Those who enlisted for five or six montlis were 
granted a bounty of five bushels of wheat and a like monthly allow- 
ance. At the first town-meeting, November 11,' .Jonathan Root and 

1 At a mt-'fting held «t Farmiiigton, .Tuin' 15, 1774, to iiroti-^tt njpiiiist the hlock.iile of 
Boston, a coimiiittco was njiiioiutoil tn take in subsiriiitions fur thi' rolief of the towni, ami on 
the list aiv these names of residents in Southington Parish ; .lonathan Root. .Tosiah Cowlcs, 
Daniel I^nkton, Jonathan Andrews, .lonathan Woodrutf, Aaron Hay, Timothy Clark, .tosiah 
Lewis, Hizekiah Gridley, .Ir., As!i and Thoma.s Upson, Amos Banii'S, Stephi'n Barnes, Jr., 
Aaron Harrison, who lived in the southwest part of the ]>arish, now Wol-ott, and Simeon 
Hart, who removed that year to the [lail of Karmington now odhd Biistnl 



378 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Captain Josiah Cowles were chosen a committee " to Provide for the 
Famelies " of officers and soldiers in the field. The number who 
served in the Revolution was 99 ; in the War of 1812, 7 ; in the Mexi- 
can War, 2. In the War of the Rebellion 313 served, distributed as 
follows : First cavali-y, 12 ; first artillery, 11 ; first light battery, 4 ; 
second artillery, 6 ; first infantrv, 3; second, 6; fifth, 20; sixth, 12; 
seventh, 35 ; eighth, 17 ; ninth, 2 ; tenth, 9 ; eleventh, 2 ; twelfth, 27 ; 
thirteenth, 2 ; fourteenth, 16 ; fifteenth, 2 ; sixteenth, 1 ; eighteenth, 
1 ; twentieth, 84 ; twenty-second, 16 ; twenty-third, 3 ; twenty-fifth, 2 ; 
twenty-ninth, 3 ; thirtieth, 2 ; Harland's Brigade Band, 4 ; U. S. Navy, 
1 ; iinassigned, 7. 

The Rev. Levi Hart, D.D., son of Thomas Hart, was born April 10, 
1738. He graduated at Yale College in 1760, and his religious experi- 
ence there led him to choose the ministry for a profession. He studied 
with the Rev. Dr. Bellamy, in Bethlehem, until May, 1761. He was 
licensed at Bolton, June 2, 1761, and returned at once to Bethlehem, 
wliere, in Dr. Bellamy's pulpit, he preached his first sermon. He was 
settled at Pi-eston, February, 1762, and in that year married a daughter 
of Dr. Bellamy. She died in 1780, and in 1790 he married Mrs. Backus, 
of Norwich. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the 
College of New Jersey in 1800 ; was a member of the corporation of 
Dartmouth College from 1784 to 1788, and of that of Yale College from 
1791 to 1807. He was prominent in forming the Connecticut Mission- 
ary Society, and made several journeys of a missionary nature during 
his life, preaching to the people in distant, sparsely settled regions. He 
was a very intimate friend of Dr. Bellamy and of Dr. Samuel Hopkins, of 
Newport, Rhode Island ; and he preached the latter's funeral sermon. 
He was active in support of Dr. lIo])kins in the attack upon human 
slavery which he began about 1770. Dr. Hart died Oct. 27, 1808. 

The Hon. Charles Carter Langdon, son of Giles and Sally (Carter) 
Langdon, was born Aug. 5, 1805. Naturally ambitious, he diligently 
improved the only advantages for education offered him in the com- 
mon schools. After teaching in Southington and elsewhere for several 
years, he accompanied his brother Levi to Marion, Alabama, and en- 
tered into partnership with him, and was connected with the firm until 
1834, when he removed to Mobile. He gained a reputation as a writer 
of political articles, and in 1838 gave up business and purchased and 
assumed editorial control of the " Mobile Daily Advertiser," which he 
controlled for twenty years. Mr. Langdon was an ardent admirer and 
supporter of Henry Clay. He was active as a political debater, opposed 
with great vehemence and ])ower the nullification measures adopted by 
South Carolina, and still later all disunion theories. He was a member 
of the Wliig National Conventions of 1844, 1848. and 1852. In 1851 he 
was tlie LTnion candidate for Congress in the Mobile district, but was 
defeated by his Southern Rights opponent. He was a member of the 
Alabama legislature in the years 1839, 1840, 1856, and 1862, and was 
mayor of Mobile in the years 1848-1854. In 1854 he disposed of the 
" Advei'tiser," and established twenty-five miles from the city what 
is known as the Langdon Nurseries, also editing the agricultural 
department of the " Advertiser." In 1865 he was a member of the 
Alabama State Convention that met for reconstruction purposes. He 



SOUTHINGTON. 379 

was also elected to Coui^ress, lint, with other Southern members, was 
m)t admitted. Ills later years have hem devoted to the development 
of the afirieidtural i-esoiircfs of tiie South. 

The IJou. Romeo Ijowrey, son of Daniel and Anna (Munson) Low- 
rey, was born at Redsliuie Hill (now I'lainville), Oct. 3, 1703. Asa 

boy in the district schoul he showed an ^^ 

unusual thirst for knowledire, and early (^7) ^^ 

decided to enter college. At Yale, where Jlc'k'>^<.o —Lo vj v^ 
he remained by praetisinir the must ritrid A 

economy, and I'nun which he was jrraduated U 

with honor in 1818, he was pojiuiar witli lii.s classmates, one of whom 
said of him, " his word was as >;ood as his oath." With an indebted- 
ness at firaduation of over eijrht hundred dollar-s, he gladly accepted 
the jKisition of tutor in a private family near Winchester, Virginia, 
receiving his board and a salary of four hundred dollars per year. 
After teaching a year he came North, studied law in the oflice of the 
Hon. Anson Sterling, of Sjiaron, was admitted to practice in 1820, and 
opened an oflice in Southington, where he remained till his death, 
Jan. 30, 185tJ. He was influential in the town, and a valued memljer 
of the Congregational Ciuirch. He took high rank at the Hartford 
County Bar. In lioth branches of the legislature he made a favorable 
impression, and on the iJench was sound and practical. 

The Rev. RoUin 11. N'eale, P.D., son of Jeremiah and Anna 
(^FuUer) Neale, was iiorn Feb. 13, 18<l8. His family were Baptists, 
but as their church had Ijecome extinct, they attended the Congrega- 
tional Church, and young Neale excelled in the SabVtath school in 
memorizing verses. Every moment that could bo stolen from work 
was given to reading, to the grief of his father, who feared he " would 
never amount to anything." When he was fourteen, the Rev. Mr. 
Ogden gave him gratuitous instruction in the classics and lent him 
books. He l)egan teaching at an early age. At sixteen he was ba|>- 
tizcd, and received into the Baptist Church of Bristol, and exhibited 
such gifts in the pray(M'-meetings that In; was advised to begin preach- 
ing, but was unwilling to do so initil he had obtained a Ijetter educa- 
tion. The Rev. Luther Rice, financial agent of Columi)ian College, 
Washington, heard of him, and induced him to enter that institution. 
Soon after beginning his course of study, he was called to address 
assemblies of colored ]icople, then to pi'each in neighboring churches, 
and thus, without a fonual license, l)egan his ministerial life at sixteen. 
The poverty he endured while in college was borne with great cheer- 
fulness. He remained until the college was closed for financial rea- 
sons, then preached for a time in the Washington Navy-y;nd. and iu 
1830 entered Newton Theological Seminary. He was settled for three 
years over the First Baptist (Jhnrch of New Haven, and was then called 
to the First Baptist Church of Boston. Pr. Neale has fm- many years 
been ranked among the foremost preachers of the denomination. 

Edward Robinson. D.P., LL.D., son of the Rev. William and Eliza- 
beth (Norton) Uohinson, was born April 10. 1704. Naturally deli- 
cate, he was released from farm work, and devoted himself to reading 
and mechanical inventions with almost morbid persistency. He was 
generally at the head of his class, and was remembered by his school- 
mates as a ])ainfully shy and >mgaiuly lioy. He was at one time under 



380 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

the tuition of the Rev. Irael B. Woodward, of Wolcott. He taught 
school ill Farmington and East Haven, and in 1812 entered Hamilton 
College, living in the family of his maternal uncle, Professor Norton. 
He was valedictorian of the class of 1816. In 1817 he studied law in 
the office of James Strong. In 1818 he became a tutor in the college, 
and was married, September 3, to Eliza, daughter of the Rev. Samuel 
and Jerusha (Bingham) Kirtland. On her death, July 5, 1819, he 
devoted himself to study, and published an edition of Homer. He 
was licensed to preach, Oct. 1, 1822, by the Hartford South Associa- 
tion. He was instructor in Hebrew at Andover, 1823-1826. In 1826 
he went to Germany, spending four years in study. He married, 
Aug. 7, 1828, Therese Albertine Louise von Jakob, daughter of Pro- 
fessor von Jakob, of the University of Halle. He became professor 
and librarian at Andover in 1830, and in 1831 founded the " Biblical 
Repository." In 1834 he removed to Boston, and spent three years 
in preparing his works. In 1837 he accepted a professorship in 
Union Theological Seminary, New York. Several years were devoted 
to travel in the Holy Land, resulting in two volumes of " Biblical 
Researches." His eyesight failed in 1861, and on Jan. 27, 1863, 
he died. 

Jesse Olney, son of Ezekicl and Lydia (Brown) Olney, was born in 
Union, Tolland County, Oct. 12, 1798, where his father had removed 
from Providence, Rhode Island, after the Revolution. He was descended 
from Thomas Olney, who came to America with Roger Williams and 
became treasurer of the Providence Plantation, and whose family 
intermarried with that of Roger Williams for three generations. 
Jesse Olney was an ambitious scholar, and made the most of the scanty 
advantages afforded in his childhood. Before he became of age he 
removed to Westmoreland, New York, and after a time entered the 
Whitesborough Institute, finishing its proscribed course of study. He 
taught for a time in Binghamton, New York, and in 1821 became prin- 
cipal of the Stone School, in Hartford, holding this position twelve years. 
In 1828 he published the first edition of his Geography and Atlas, 
which passed through ninety-five editions. A series of text-books in 
arithmetic, bistoiT, and reading followed ; and to perfect these he vis- 
ited Europe several times. His " National Preceptor " passed through 
thirty-five editions, his " History of tlie United States " through forty- 
three ; and his " Family Book of History " was equally popular. He 
removed to Southington in 1833. He laljored faithfully to raise the 
standard of the common schools, aided with wise counsel and open 
purse young men who were seeking an education, and in all offices of 
public and private trust he secured public favor, and endeared himself 
to all who knew him by a sympathetic heart and a blameless moral 
character. He was ten times elected member of the legislature, and 
for two years was Comptroller of Public Accounts for the State. He 
was the founder and chief supporter of the Unitarian Church, and 
after he left the town it ceased to exist. Mr. Olney was married in 
1829 to Elizabeth, daughter of Eli Barnes, of New Haven. He died at 
Stratford, July 81, 187^2. 

Edward Twichcll, son of Joseph and Phebe (Atkins) Twichell, was 
born in Wolcott, Sejrt. 5, 1810. His early life was spent on a farm ; 
but at the age of sixteen he came to Southington, and apprenticed 




^.^,^i^^<_ 



SOUTHINGTOX. 



381 



himself to TimoUiv Ilifrffins, a tanner, lie afterwanl became a partner, 
and in later vrars'was also eonneeted uitii the nianiil'aetnnnir interests 
„1- II I). Smith iV Co. He united with the ehureh in l.s:54, and m I80I 
was elected deacon, receiving forty-six out of the lifty votes east. 
«' His qualifications," said his pastor, Mr. Jones, " were sterling piety, 
soundness in faith and doctrine, good eommon sense, and a rpuet, 
pleasant, unobtrusi\e manner." In ehureh, Sunday school, and praycr- 
meetino- he was ever at his jiost. Once, on communion Minday, the 
snow iKul drifted badlv ; but with the elements u( the sacrament in 
one hand and a shovel" in the other, the faithful man opened Ins own 
path to the elunrh, two miles distant. His h)yalty to his couvietions, 
his larcre-hearted gencrositv, his freedom from censonousncss and fault- 
finding^ and his genial spirit will be long remembered m the town. 
He died April IC, 1863. . , • r „ 

Other names, which should at least be mentioned in even so briet a 

^'^^TIiVrcv 'irenus Atkins, born 1792, who was from 1827 to 1839 pastor 
of the Baptist Church, and revived it from a very reduced condition. 

Samuel Andrews, l)uin l(i9.5, first q- P /P ^ (L-lf r Tu 

clerk of the Ecclesiastical Society. tJa.r,^''.. U^d-ri^^y^ J '^ „ 
He held — and his descendants of the d ^ 

same name have since often held —the office of town clerk. 

Captain Enos Atwater, born 1710, who was a large landholder, and 
established At water's mills. .. , r> 1 

//^i?^ rtr. .Julius Steele Barnes, born 

^...^c^ y^^cUU^ in Tolland, 1792, for fifty years 
/ resident physician of Southing- 
t..n. 
Timothy Clark, \mx\\ 17:52, town treasurer many years, and justice 

of the peace. • ^i, ^ j 

Cornelius Dunham, born 1740, first tavern-keeper in the town, and 

a large landholder. ,> . , • 1-0- j 

Ichabod Culi)opper Frisbie, who came trom Brantord in lr8o, and 
was for a long while justice of the ])eace and selectman. 

Rev. Elisha Cow'les Jones, died in 1857, pastor of the Congrega- 
tional church for thirty-five years, of welMialanced mind, a clear 
thinker and shrewd observer; for many years acting school visitor, 
and a great power in the town outside of as well as within his own 
communion. An extended sketch of his life is given in Timlow's 
Historical Sketches. , , ,^ 

Jared Lee, i)oin 1712, justice of the peace and olticer of the Congre- 
gational Church and Society. 

Oliver Lewis, born 1793, deacon of the /^. ^ . 

Congregational Church for thirty-five vears. <--^U-tn/o :?-<l-6iA^ 

Selah Lewis, born 1798, for a long time the chorister of the Con- 
gregational Church. 

Roswell Moore. Iiorii 17G1, justice of the peace and a man of leading 
intluencc in town affairs. 

Dr. Mark Newell, born 17.58, who came back to Southinsrton m 
1786, and was the leadinir i)hvsician until his death, in 1829. 

Sylvester Norton, boin 1784. judge of probate and leading business 
man, ami i)residential elector in 1828. 



382 MEMORIAL HISTOEY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Jonathan Root, born 1707, first selectman, and long prominent in 
town affairs. 

Stephen Walkley, born 1782, county surveyor and judge of probate. 
For forty consecutive years, beginning in 1818, he held some office in 
the town, or in an ecclesiastical or school society, or probate district. 

One of the leading citizens of Southington is RoswcU A. Neal, born 
at New Hartford, Jan. 21, 1821, son of Elisha Neal and Naomi Frost. 
He worked at clock-making in his father's shop as a boy, and subse- 
quently initil he became of age was on a farm, the last year in Forest- 
ville (Bristol). Then for two years he sold clocks in Maine and New 
Brunswick. Later he formed a partnership with M. W. Atkins in For- 
estville for manufacturing steelyards. This terminated in 1849, and 
he removed to Southington, where he engaged in business with the Peck, 
Smith, & Co., manufacturers of tinners' tools, etc. In their interest he 
travelled all over the country, selling almost their entire jiroduction. 
In 18G1 he became president of the company, and has held the office 
ever since. He is now president of the Peck, Stow, & Wilcox, South- 
ington Cutlery, and ^tna Nut Companies, of the Southington National 
Bank, and the Mallett Cattle Company of Texas, and is a director in 
other important concerns. He has been for many years chairman of 
the trustees of the Baptist Church and treasurer of the society. He 
represented Southington in the legislature in 1867, 1869, 1874, and 
1881, and has held important town offices. The success of Southington 
manufacturing enterprises is largely due to his energy and executive 
ability. 

A large part of the records of this society and town from 1722 to 
1822 are lost. The historical material remaining is scattered in private 
houses, deposited in the archives of Farmington, or recorded, with little 
attempt at classification, in the voluminous manuscripts of the late Gad 
Andrews. To these may be added many public and some private papers 
lately brought to light. When the present work was undertaken, the 
writer hoped (using Mr. Timlow's Historical Sketches as a basis) to re- 
search this scattered material so thoroughly as to su])ply missing links 
and settle disjmted points left by Timlow's Sketches in abeyance. Two 
causes have prevented a thorough work ; namely, lack of time, and lim- 
ited space. The work finally done has been to revise former publications 
by comparison with original documents, to condense and arrange some 
of the most important facts recorded in Timlow's Sketches, and add only 
such new matter as the plan of this publication woidd permit. The 
writer dares hope that the laborious work of research and condensation 
has not been in vain. For the biographical notices which are included 
in the article, I am indebted to the assistance of other persons, who 
have prepared them for the history. 



ixd^^t^y^^^\Mdju^ 



XXIII. 



SUFFIELD. 

BY nEZEKIAn SPENXEK SHELDON. 

SrFFIELP is bnuiidod on the north hy Massachusetts, on the east 
by the Cnnuirticiit River, wliich se])aratcs it from Enfield, on the 
south bv Windsor Locks, East (Jranliy, and Granby, and on the 
west by EastlJranbv. (iranbv, and Massachusetts. It contains about 
38.V square miles. Unlike most ancient towns, its area has been en- 
lar"o-ed, — about 2.500 acres having been added since its boundary lines 
were first judicially established in 1713. There is no alluvial land 
upon the river Ijord'cr, as in towns above and below. The river bank is 
generallv elevated and bold, eomiiosed of " clay slaty rock " suitable 
only for" foundation walls. From the river westward to the mountain 
thecountry rises with a succession of broken ridges that extend across 
the town parallel with the river, with wide intermediate valleys. Upon 
these elevations are the highways which originally were old Indian 
trails or paths. On the first ridge, half a mile from the river, is Feather 
Street. The second ridge is Long Hill. Upon the third, about two 
miles from the river, is High Street, formerly the old Siiringlicld and 
Windsor " Wav." On the next, west, runs what was once the " iramj)- 
tou and Westfield path." The mountain, still farther west (in the Mount 
Tom range, and formerly supposed to be rich in minerals), is the most 
prominent feature in our landscape. West of it lie the Congamond 
Lakes. In the extreme southwest corner of the town is Manatuck 
Mountain, its eastern border a bold, almost perpendicular bluff, afford- 
ing an extended view of the valley between the Talcott and Green 
Mountain ranges. 

Three streams rising within the town, empty into the Connecticut 
River, — Stony Iliver or Stony Brook, Rawlins's Brook, and Deej) Brook. 
Stony Brook ri.ses in the mountain with a west and north branch, and 
half-way across the town toward the east is enlarged by Muddy Brook 
from tlie north, which is formed by numerous small streams from the 
Agawam Plains. Stony Brook is fiirtluM- increased liy small streams 
from Windsor Plains oil the south. It formerly furnished many mill- 
sites, but the axe and the sjiadc have nearly ruinccj them. With a 
thorough drainage, no town has a better suj.ply of running streaius for 
its farms, and few have so large a projiortion of land adapted to tillage, 
or so little broken or waste land, (ireat Island, in the Connecticut 
River rapids, opposite the mouth of Stony Brook, lies wholly west of 
the main channel and is only approachable from the Sullield side, where 
the west branch is usually fordable in summer. Its extreme length is 
31.") rods : its extreme width, lOO rods. It contains about 100 acres ; GO 



384 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

are alluvial and tillable, and the remainder rocky and covered witli for- 
est to the water's edge. Probably no other such charmingly isolated 
and secluded spot, so near to and yet so remote from the busy world, 
can be fomid in New England. 

Irregular in shape, the extreme length of the town from east to west 
is about 8|- miles, and its extreme width is 6 miles. Its area by the 
survey of 1713 was 22,172 acres ; add to this about 2,500 acres from 
the ancient Westfield gTant in 1803, and we have 21,672 acres as its 
present area. 

The following names of localities are foimd in the early records, most 
of them being retained : Stony Brook, Muddy Brook, Filer's Brook, 
Clay Brook, Rawlins's Brook, Deep Brook, Wolf Pit Brook, Rattle- 
snake Brook, Throe Mile Brook, Sawmill Brook, Onion Brook, Burli- 
son's Brook, Meeting-House Hill, Long Hill, Great Hill, Bush Hill, 
King's Hill, Kent's Hill, Stevenson's Hill, Round Hill, Cord Wood Hill, 
Hoop Hill, Buck Hill, Chestnut or Sandy Hill, Taintor Hill, Boston 
Neck, The Neck, Ireland Plain, Musketo-Hawk Plain, Rattlesnake 
Plain, Great Swamp, Dismal Swamp, Pipe-stave Swamp, Dirty Slough, 
Swampfield or Little Common, Winchell's Bridge alias Kellogg's Bridge, 
Bush Bridge, Norton's Bridge, Jackson Bridge. 

The town was originally heavily wooded, especially with pine and 
oak, and had only about five hundred acres of meadow or swamp grass- 
land. Owing to the lack of open fields and alluvial lands, it is not 
probable that the Indians lived here continuouslj' in any numbers, 
unless along the Great River Falls and the shores of Wenekeiamaug 
(now Congamond), whei'C tiie fishing-grounds were excellent. In these 
localities indications of settlements and burying-grounds are found. 
The only names preserved of the aboriginal proprietors are " Pam- 
punkshat " and " Mishnousqus " alias Margery, probably sachems of 
the Agawams. No hill, stream, or locality, except the Manatuck 
Mountain, beai's an Indian name. No blood of red or white man shed 
in war or massacre stains the soil of the town. 

Suffield formed a part of Hampshire County, Mass., until 1749. In 
1660 it was called Stony River, from its principal stream. In 1670, 
and for many years afterward, it was called Southfiekl, both by the in- 
habitants and in the Province laws. On the 20th of May, 1674, the 
committee for settling the town petitioned that " the honored Court 
would please to grant this Plantation seven yeares freedom from Coun- 
trey Rates, as an encouragement for the planters, it being a woody 
place and difficult to winne ; " also, " that the name of the place may 
be Suffield [an abbreviation of Southfiekl], it being the southernmost 
town that either at present is, or like to be in that Countrey, and neere 
adjoining to the south border of our Patent in those parts." On the 
3d of June, 1674, the Court granted this jjetition, and the place since 
that time has been written " Suffeild " or " Suffield " in all its town 
records. In 1060 the Massachusetts General Court granted to six per- 
sons (none of them subsequent settlers) land for a plantation at the 
place called " by y" name of Stoney River, on both sides of the way to 
Connecticott, seven miles square." An unsuccessful attempt to settle 
at the southeast corner of the town was probably made, and the grant 
became void. On the 14th of January, 1669, the selectmen of Spring- 
field " coramende it to the town," that " Samuel and Joseph Harmon, 



SlKKIKLl). 385 

John Lanil). auJ IJcnjaiuiii Parstiiis liavi' 30. acrt's i>{ laiHl,aiid fi. acres 
of Wet Meadow apiece, at Stum River." This was followed (May, 
1670) by a petition : — 

" To the Highly Hoim'! & The (Jen Co"* of tlie Massjicluisetts : The humble 
Petition of Diverse of y* Inhabitants of .Springtield, on tlie behalfe of y* Towne, 
Shewetli : that there being a quantity of lan<l betweeue Springtielil ami West- 
fiflil ami tlio South Lyne of y" Colony, w"'' wee coneeive may be capable of a 
small Plantation, ami for that there are diverse P'sons amongst us that greatly 
want convenienei'S of land for improvement for their familyes, who desire to sett 
upon worke in that quarter, and to prevent tiie marring of that w'"" may be a 
comforUible Township, by such as otherwiso may take up those Lands for farmes, 
& to preserve the Lands and Woods of the South line of the CoUony in that 
quarter towards Windsor. Wee doe humbly intreat this much Honnor* Co"' to 
Graunt unto y" Petitioners for y* use of sucii as want conveniences of Land in 
this Towne, a quantity of Land for y' end aforesaid : And that the Honnor* Co™ 
would be pleased to allow live or six yeares lil)erty for setting downe there and 
making a Plant;ition ; the difficulty of winning those woody lands requiring 
longer tyme than ordinary to settle upon, there being scarce any open land to 
begin with. That God only wise would .sitt amongst yo' Honn" guiding you 
to his Glory, & y" comfort of his People: Pray: yo' most Humble Petition? 
John Pynchon, George Coulton, Nathaniel P^ly, Anthony Dorchester, Eliazur 
Holyoke, Benjamin Cooley, Samuel Marshfield, Benjamin Parsons, Henry Cha- 
pin, Rowland Thomas, Thomas Stebbin, Samuel Chapin, Lorauce Bliss, Jonathan 
Burt, Richard Sicks, Miles Morgan." 

The petition was granted on the 12tli of October, 1670. A tract of 
land •' to the contente of si.x miles square," was ordered to be laid out 
and settled upon, with certain provisos, and Capt. John Pynchon, Cajjt. 
Elia/.' Ilolyoke, Leift. Coojjer. Q' Master Colton, Ens" Cooly, and Row- 
land Thomas, or any three of them, were appointed a Committee for 
that end. On the 12th of January. ItiTl, this committee adopted gov- 
erninj; rules for " settlinir" the town. A summary of them is iriven. 
Caste, or rank, was observed in loeatinir settlers, in the quantity of land 
allotted by the committee, unlike that of other valley towns. Only the 
mountain and the land west of it was divided into lots to be drawn for. 

" 1st. There should be four score sharc.f, or house lots of four ranks, of 80, 
60, 50 and 40 acres. Meadow being scarce, only one-tenth part is allowed for each. 
2d. llauk was to l)e determined by Quality, Estate, U.sefulness and other Con- 
siderations, as the Committee direct. 

" 3d. Provided for further divisions of .Meadow if more be found. 4th. The 
Grantees should pay their proportion of all charges for settling and laying out 
the town, procuring and jiroviding for a minister, or anj- other matter, or thing 
conducing to the jiublic gooil. .Tth and 6th. Provided for laying out Highways 
and the lands, into several divisions. 7th. The first applicants, should have the 
liberty of choice, in whiidi Division to settle. 8th. The Petitioners for the Grant, 
could have allotments under certain conditions. (None settled here.) 

"Otli. N'o settler could .sell or alienate liis land, until he had a continuous 
residence of seven years, and with the consent of the committee or selectmen. 

" 10th. ' Persons of considemble (,»uality ' not desiring to settle themselves, 
might have grants of land, to settle such |)ersons as might be a furtherance to the 
place, and to such only ;us the Committee a|>prf(Ve of. 

"11th. Onlered that a cunvenient allotment of 60. or 80. acres, near the 
Centre of the Town be reservi-d for the property of the first Minister, that shall 

VOL. II. — 2.'-,. 



386 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

settle on the place. 12th. An allotiuent of 80. acres to be set apart for the min- 
istry forever. 

" 1.3th. Forty acres to be set apart for the support of a school, for, and to that 
use forever. 14th. One hundred acres for the Gen! Court or Country's use, and 
four hundred more for the use of the Country. 15th. Twenty or thirty acres to 
be laid out in the Centre of the Town, and set apart for the Common use : ' as, to 
set the Meeting House on, or School House, or for a Training place, or any other 
Publick use, to be left Common. 

" 1 6th. Sixty acres each for a Corn Mill and Saw Mill with other privileges 
miglit be given as encouragement. 1 7th. The Committee reserve liberty to grant 
more Lots upon the same conditions, if they find the place will bear it. 18th. 
Grants were void, unless settled upon within a prescribed time." 

These rules, slightly modified in 1673, were conscientiously adhered 
to. Captain John Pynchon, with the assistance of Samuel Marshfield 
(county surveyor), devised the following general plan for " laying out" 
the town, that is substantially the same to-day, except Feather Street 
Common, subdivided in 1732. 

[On the 16th of May, 1671, the committee for Stony River Plantation met, 
being there on the place. Present, J. Pynchon, Lieutenant Cooper, Mr. Holyoke, 
Benjamen Cooley, and George Colton.] "We settled several Divisions or Places, 
where mens Lands should ly, and be taken up, as one on tlie north side of Stony 
Brook, by Northampton Eoad, where the Harmons are to take up part of their 
Land, and some others : also we laid out the Town Plat, a little eastward from 
this Land, something towards the Great River, on the North side of Stony Brook ; 
where we stated the Highway or Street, running from Stony Brook, northward 
toward Springfield, and called this Street High Street, where we intend and order, 
the Meeting House shall be set. This is to be a double Street, and to build upon 
both sides of it, those on the West side of it, their Lots to run back Westward 
to Muddy Brook, and those on the East side of this High Street, their Lots to 
run back from it Eastward, Twelve Score Rods, these meeting with, or adjoining 
to at least the upper part of these Lots, though not downward. 

" Another Range of Lots v?liich come from Feather Street, near the Great 
River, though some distance from the Great River, there being some Land left 
there for a Common, next the Great River. This Range of Lots in Feather St., 
which is only a single Range having the Land before them Common, to the 
Great River, from tlie front of their Lots, where they are to build. The Lots 
run back westward toward High Street, Twelve Score Rods, and somewhat 
more, there being a little allowance in the length of Feather Street Lots, as 
being Judged somewhat meaner than them in High Street ; all which Lots are 
to rear one upon another, except at the lower end, or Southwardly next to Stony 
Brook." 

On the 28th of January, 1675, the committee met, and so many 
persons desired to settle in the new town, that it was determined " to 
fill up the place to one hundred Families, as speedily as may be." The 
breaking out of King Philip's War, a few months later, suspended all 
grants of lands, and the plantation was abandoned. Early in the year 
1677 the committee announced to the dispersed settlers that, " Whereas 
now thro' the favor of God in scattering the Heathen, and giving us 
some quiet, there is hopes of resettling there," they will not claim for- 
feiture of lauds on account of abandonment, but will give them " forty 

1 About twenty acres were set apart as the town's common. Here was the training-ground, 
and here stood, side by side, the meeting-house, the school-house, the stocks, the whijjping- 
post, and the pound. 



SUFI-IKI,D. 387 

days to doL'lai-c tlicir iiik-ndmcnls and full resolution to sottlf there," 
and " failing to settle within ciLditecn months, thfir allotments to he 
disposed of, to such as will." 

In the spring of lti77 nearly all who had grants returned, and the 
town started anew. Meanwhile, tw<j members of the committee had 
deceased; Lieutenant Cooper was killed hy the Indians in the attack 
on Springfield, (»et. A, 107'), and Captain liolyoki' died Feb. tJ, l(i70. 

For the safety of the people, the land on High Street not laid out 
was divided into house-lots about twelve rods wide, to be given to the 
settlers, especially those out on the Northampton Road, who were most 
exposed, and who linally removed to High Street. 

In 1678 additional grants were made and some highways deter- 
mined ; namely, the one from the lower end of High Street to the 
Windsor road, "one from High Street easterly toward the mill, also the 
road to Feather Street and •• the highway out westward " over Muddy 
Biook (where there was a new bridge, the first in the town) to the 
Northampton Road. The '' Northampton road " was at first a path or 
trail between the Connecticut towns and those of Massachusetts west 
of the river by the way of Westlield, which was a trading-post in 
1G43. Northanii)ton anil Iladley kei)t this way open for ox-carts many 
years. This road and High Street were called "country roads," dis- 
tinguishing them as not laid out and maintained by the town. Another 
"w-iiy" from Poipionnock to Westlield through West Suffield, by the 
notcii (Rising's), was called " New nami)ton Path." High Street 
(also called Springfield Road) and the Feather Street (river) road 
were both used for many years before the town was settled. Pine 
plains and swamps ccteiided to the Wenekeiamang, west from the 
mountain, and along its eastern base stretched the (ireat Swamp, 
now cultivated laud. The allotment for the Crooked Lane Lots, " be- 
yond, or at the ui)per end of High Street," was granted, with a highway 
adjoining, in 16^0. 

On the 12th of October, lt)81, the General Court ordered the com- 
mittee to call a meeting of the qualified v(jters, for town organization. 
On the 2d of January, 1682, the committee met for the last time and 
completed their labors of " filling up the iilacc " to one hundred families 
(although the grant required hut twenty). The grantees became pro- 
prietors in fee simple of all the lands within the |.lantatioii, eaeli in 
l)roportion to his first grant; 6,258 acres luul been distributed, and the 
remainder was left to l)e divided as the majority should direct. 

In 1682 sixty-two proprietors were heads of families ; the remainder 
were unmarried, and some of them young. The first proprietor to die 
was Samuel Harmon, in 1677 ; the last was Deacon John Hancliett, in 
1744, ai-ed ninety-live years. The first female white child liorn here 
was Mi°rdwell, daughter of Robert and Susanna Old, Feb. 4, 1674. 
The first male white child born was Ephraiui iJartlett, born June 17, 
lt)73, son of Ucnjamin IJartlett, of Windsor, who iiought a right in the 
Sulheld jilantation of .Major Pynchon. but al)andoned it soon after.' 

The names of the first grantees and proprietors {nm- hundred in 
numl)er), many of whom were from Springfield and Windsor, in the 
order of their grants, arc: — 

' Pviu-lioii .Vccount B.H>k, niiil History of Wilbralmm. 



888 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



Samuel Harmon. 
Joseph Harmon. 
Nathaniel Harmon. 
Zeruhbahel Filer. 
Eobert Old. 
Jonathan Winchill. 
David Winchill. 
George Jefl'ries. 
Eobert Watson. 
John Watson. 
John Millington. 
Steven Taylor. 
John Taylor. 
Nathaniel Cook. 
Timothy Hale. 
John Filley. 
Hugh Roe. 
Thomas Spencer. 
Judah Trumble. 
Joseph Truml)le. 
Edward Smith. 
Anthony Austin. 
Timothy Palmer. 
Walter Holiday. 
Samuel Roe. 
Abram Dibble. 
John Burbank. 
John Barber. 
Thomas Barber. 
George Norton. 
Thomas Remington. 
Launcelot Granger. 
Thomas Granger 
George Granger. 



John Hodge. 
Samuel Kent, Sr. 
Thomas Parsons. 
James Barker. 
James Piising. 
Benjamin Dibble. 
Thomas Remington, Jr. 
Isaac Cakebread. 
Timothy Eastman. 
Joseph Eastman. 
John Lawton. 
Thomas Copley. 
Thomas Taylor. 
Sergeant Thomas Huxley. 
Edward Burleson. 
Peter Eoe. 
John Sevrance. 
John Pengilly. 
Edward Allyn, Sen. 
Edward Allyn, Jr. 
John Allyn. 
William Allyn. 
John Scott. 
James King. 
Samuel Bush. 
Joseph Seager. 
John Eemington. 
Jonathan Eemington. 
Eichard Austin. 
Anthony Austin, Jr. 
Samuel Kent, Jr. 
Deacon Thomas Hanchett. 
Thomas Hanchett, Jr. 



John Hanchett. 
David Froe. 
Obadiah Miller. 
Daniel Canada (Kenedy). 
Simon Gowin. 
Mr. John Younglove. 
William Pritchard. 
Michael Towsley. 
John Eising. 
Edmund Marshall. 
Eichard Wollery. 
John Huggins. 
James Barlow. 
James Taylor. 
Luke Hitchcock. 
John Barber. 
Samuel Taylor. 
Jonathan Taylor. 
Nathaniel Cheny. 
Victory Sikes. 
William Brooks. 
Ebenezer Brooks. 
Gregory Gibbs. 
Samuel Lane. 
John Mighill. 
John Mighill, Jr. 
Thomas Mighill. 
Thomas Stevens. 
Joseph Leonard. 
Joseph Barber. 
Benjamin Barber. 
Samuel Filer. 
Joseph Pynchon. 



The followinp: had irrants, but were not settlers, and received their 
proportion of subsequent divisions of land in compensation for some 
services rendered : Major John Pynchon, Benjamen Cooley, George Col- 
ton, Rowland Thomas, Elizur Holyoke, Thomas Cooper, John IngersoU, 
John IngersoU, Jr., .John Petty, Joshua Wells, Samuel Cross. 

An abstract of the title to our lands under the Massachusetts 
patent may be outlined as follows : (1 ) The Town Grant by that Gen- 
eral Court. (2) The Indian title acquired by Major John Pynchon for 
.£30 and conveyed by him to the Inhabitants of Suffield for £40 in 
1684. (3) The distribution by the Committee and Proprietors, with a 
descriptive record of the date, bounds, quantity, and name of Grantee, 
made in the Town or Proprietor's Books, compiled and certified by the 
Land Measurer. Succeeding transfers by deed, will, or otherwise, be- 
fore 1749, are in Massaciuisetts records ; since that time, in Hartford 
and Suffield records. The location of proprietors' house-lots is easily 
determined, while that of their outlands is often in hopeless obscurity. 
Five years' quiet possession of land made a title under the province 
law. 

The "Great Island" was given to the Rev. Ephraim Iluit, of 



STTFIKr.D. 389 

Windsor, hv tlic ('.)iiurcticiit GlmilthI Coint in lt;41. nii.l t.y iiis will it 
was returned in Hi44 "for the use of the country." In HJ81 liic Mas- 
sachusetts General Court gave it to John l\u<hon. IIo died in 1703, 
and the Island was a part of his Sutheld estate, inventoried at ten 
pounds. In 1717 Ids heirs sold it to John and Ehenezer Devotion and 
Joshua Leavitt, all of Suilicld, for i;i30 current money, in 173() 
Josciih Kcllong, of Sullield, l)ouoht John Devotion's rijrht. In 17oo 
General Phineas Lvman l)ou>rht the whole island, and sold it in 1774 to 
Ro.Ti- En.)s, of Windsor, for £200. Since that time its many owners 
are"f(jund in Sullield land records to 180G, and since that date at En- 
field The isolated position and consequent little value of this lieauti- 
ful island render its jurisdicti.Mi of slight importance. Mr. Terry, who 
now owns the larger part, is prol)ably the first permanent white resident. 
It has borne the successive names of " Great Island," " Lyman's," 
"Copper," '• King's," and *' Terry's." ,.,.,,, , , 

On the -ilst of March, 1G71, the committee laid out the hounds of 
that part of the t(jwn cast of the mountain, and made this report to the 
General Court, which was approved and confirmed June 3, 1G74: — 

"The North Bounds of tliis new Plantation joyniiig to Springfield 8outh 
Bounds on llio West Side of tlie Connecticott Kyver, is at a little gutter about 
lialf a railo below the brook, commonly called the Three Mile Brook below 
Lieut. Cooper's liousc : Viz : at two tall luiddliug trees standing about two footo 
from each other, the one a walnut, the other an oak, wliicli stands on the knap 
or brow of the hill, on the North side of that gutter by the (ireat Itivcr side 
within three or fouio rod where the gutter emptyes into the Great River. The 
said trees being marked on the North bounds of tliis new Plantation : and thence 
the Bounds run upon the due West line, about lower miles and a lialfo fnjin 
the River Connecticott till it meet Westfield Bounds (now Rising's Notch), and 
from the said two trees, the East bound is the said River Connecticott, and is 
sixe miles southward upon the square Inan the said West (North) Lyne. The 
Soutli border of this Now Plantation is a due West Lyne, drawn from a large 
White (lake, marked standing on the banko of the Ryver Connecticott two or 
three rods from the said Ryver, and about a half a mile below the Island, neeni 
the footo of the Falls in the Ureat Ryver. And from the said White Cake, the 
South border extends seven miles and a halfe due West, many trees being marked 
in that Range or Lyue." 

Notwithstanding boundary disputes for two centuries, these are 
town lines to-dav, with this exception : The south line interfered with 
the Sinisbnry trrant at live miles from the Great River. The north line 
varies Imt little from the correct State line, being only ninety rods too 
far south at the river, and eight rods too far north at the Westfield 
line (now Rising's Notch). Ancient Westfield (the top of the moun- 
tain) bounded al)out two miles of our west border. The Sinrsbury 
line was in dispute and unsettled until 1713. The Sullield grant l>y 
Massachusetts, in 1070, revived the colonial boundary (picstion. which 
after forty years' strife was decided to be wlndly within the Connec- 
ticut i)atent The ctuise for these lioniidary troubles must be largely 
attributed to the erratic colony line of ll)42 by Woodward and Saffery, 
which apiiears to have been ordered by Massachusetts to establish its 
jurisdiction over Warronoco and S|iringncld. In 1713 the colony 
line was adjusted bv commissioners appointed by each colony. Massa- 
chusetts retained the jurisdiction of the towns it bad planted, with 



390 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

their original bounds intact. The boundary line of Suffield on Windsor 
and Simsburv, as then establislied, was the colony line until the revolt. 
Massachusetts had " planted " 105,793 Connecticut acres, recompensing 
it with an equal quantity of wild land in the present towns of Pelham, 
Belchertown, and Ware, Mass. Connecticut sold these lands in 1716 
for ,£683 (a little more than t\TO cents an acre), and gave ,£500 of it 
to Yale College. 

Simsbury and Westfield retained their ancient boundaries, being 
first incorporated, leaving west of the mountain a strip of land about 
one mile in width between the two, for Suffield. Our proprietors 
mourned the loss of that part of their grant secured by Simsbury, as it 
v.-as supposed to be rich in mines of copper and iron. They were con- 
soled by the Massachusetts Coui't, in 1732, granting them a township 
six miles square (now Blandford), as an equivalent. They sold it to 
Christopher J. Lawton, of Suffield, receiving but little therefor. Our 
bounds, with Simsbury (now East Granby and Granby), settled in 1718, 
and perambulated in 1734, were re-established in 1833. That part of 
Westfield projecting into Connecticut, between the top of the mountain 
and the ponds, was annexed to Suffield and Connecticut in 1803. The 
remainder (now South wick), containing the ponds, is in Massachusetts, 
causing the curious notch in the boundary line between the two States. 

The first recorded act of the inhabitants was ecclesiastical, and the 
town constituted one religious society until 1740, with its ecclesiastical, 
civil, and political affairs inseparably blended. The grant required 
" the procuring and maintaining some able minister." In 1678 the 
committee " laid out thirty acres as a house-lot for a first minister," on 
tlio east side of High Street, near where the Baptist parsonage now is. 
In 1G79 the inhabitants voted : — 

" For y^ incouragement of Mr. Jolm Younglove, to build him a house, forty foot 
in length, twenty foot in bredth, and ten foot between joynts : and to shingle and 
clapboard the same, and to set up a stack of chimneys, either of brick or stone, 
as shall be judged most easy to accomplish ; onely, Mr. Younglove giving ten 
pounds of the three score we engaged, this present year, and to finde all nailes 
for the shingling and clapboarding y" same." 

This house and lot, and fifty acres of wild land, were given him for 
a " settlement." His yearly salary was sixty pounds. He brought his 
family here about the year 1680, when the first meeting-house was built 
upon the common, southeast from the present Congregational Church. 
He was one of the committee for settling Brookfield in 1667, and 
preached there before the Indians burned it in 1675. He taught a 
grammar school at Hadley, 1674-1680. He died June 3, 1690, aged 
about forty-five years. 

The Rev. Benjamin Ruggles, the town's second minister, was a 
native of Roxbury, Mass., and a Harvard College graduate in 1693. 
He began to ])reach here in 1695, and after nearly three 3'ears' " tryal " 
and negotiation, was settled, April 26, 1698, with a yearly salary of 
£15 in money, and £45 provision pay, and his fire-wood, sixty cords 
a year. For his " settlement " he had a house-lot of twenty acres, with 
a dwelling-house and barn, and a well that still remains upon the 
house-lot (the homestead of the late Henry A. Sikes). The town 



SUFFIELD. 391 

agreed to "'clear up live acres" of it for ii incadiiw, ami fence it. He 
also had eighty acres of wild land. Tiie little known of his pastor- 
ate must he inferred from the town records. During' it, a new mwtini,'- 
house, and the lirst school-house, were huilt, and a representative at 
the General Court at lioston maintained. It is easy to believe tiiat 
Mr. Rugjiles was the prime agent in these progressive movements. 
He died Sept. 5, 1708, in the eleventh year of his ministry and the thirty- 
fifth year of liis age. In 1709 the town voted '• to set a decent tomb 
upon his grave." In 1858 the First Congregational Church erected the 
present monument to their '• First Pastor ; " while no slab or stone 
marks the resting-place of Mr. John Younglove, the town's first 
minister. 

The Rev. Ebenczer Devotion, the third and last " town minister," 
was born at Brooklinc. Mass., and settled .func 28, 1710, witJi a 
salary of <£80 a year, and a dwell- ^^ . 

ing-housc and lot, opposite and £''^^Q:z i^ .^e^^J-tP^^^^^. . 
west from the south end of the 

Park, for his "settlement." His ministry was very .successful, but liis 
closing years were inibittei-ed by divisions and dissensions in the town 
and church. He died Aj^ril 11, 1741, in the thirty-first year of his 
ministry, aged lifty-seven. 

The Rev. Elienczer (Jay, the fourth minister, was l)oi-n at Dedham, 
Mass., May 4, 1718, — a Harvard College graduate, 1737. He preached 

his first sermon at Suffield, 

Aug. 0, 1741 ; was ordained to 

CJt,,t^j/T^ the ministrv there, Jan. 13, 

of the First Congregational 
Church lilty-iinc years. His son, Ebenczer, Jr., was appointed his 
assistant, March (i, 1793, and his active labors ceased. He died 
March 7, 1790. Dr. Lathrop's funeral discourse says: "He was a man 
of strong mind and superior learning, of a dear and discerning intellect, 
a cool and ])enetrating judgment, unshaken fortitude, a most obliging 
neighbor, and a lover of mankind." His successors in the first Con- 
gregational Church and society have been : — 

Kev. Ebcnezer Gay, Jr., settled 1793, died Jan. 1, 1837. 

.< T 1 \r « n \ac,f ( di.siuissed Dec. 1829, 

"Joel Mann, Dec. 1^2G, | ^^^^^ j^^j^ ^1, 1884. 

" Henrv Robinson, " June, 1831, dismissed April, 1837. 

" Asabel C. Wiuflibum, " Jan. 1838, " Julv. 18.')1. 

" John R. Millir, " Dec. 1853, " Dee. 1864. 

" Walter Barton, " Dec. 1869, " Nov. 1875. 

" AVilliam R. Ivistiuan, " Jan. 1877, " Feb. 1879. 

" Charles .Symingt.in. supply July, 1879, " Dec. 1882. 

" Iliram L. Kclscy, " June, 1883 (present incumbent). 

The Second Ecclesiastical Society was incorporated Jan. 1, 1740. 
A single meeting-house had stifficed for the town. The extensive re- 
vivals of that period, and increasing numbers, necessitated a larger 
meeting-hou.se, or a division of the town. The Second Congregational 
Churcli was embodied Nov. 10,1743. and their m(>etinL'-bouse was built 
the same vear. It stood on the hi*rhw;iv on Ireland Plain, in front of 



392 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



the burying-ground, until 1795, when a second one was built on the 
site of the present. The second was torn dowji in 1839, and the present 
one on the same site was completed in 1840. The parsonage was built 
in 1843, upon a lot given by the heirs of the first minister, the Rev. 
John Graham, Jr. He was ordained and settled Oct. 22, 1746. He 
was the son of the Rev. John Graham, of Woodbury, a Yale graduate 
^ /» /O V <7 ^^ in 1740, and a chaplain in the Havana 

^^^.j^?-«5^^^-»x. expedition in 1762. His yearly salary 
j?^^ y/y^,^ ^^'^s £50, half in provision pay, and forty 

^^,rt<^^. ^•9*- cords of wood piled in his door-yard. 

The " Graham Lot," of about thirty acres, southwest from the meeting- 
house, was his settlement and homestead, where he lived and died. 
The infirmities of age preventing active duties, the Rev. Daniel Waldo 
became his colleague and successor. Mr. Graham died April 22, 1796, 
in the fiftieth year of his ministry, and in his seventy -fourth year. 
He was twice married, and was the father of seventeen children, who 
survived him. The youngest was Dr. Sylvester Graham, the dis- 
tinguished vegetarian, for whom Graham flour and Graham bread 
are named. 

The Rev. Daniel Waldo, the colleague and successor of Mr. Graham, 
was ordained and installed May 23, 1792, and dismissed Dec. 20, 1809. 
His was a long and eventful life. He was a native of Windham, born in 
1762, was a soldier of the Revo- 
lution, and was taken prisoner 
at York Island ; he was confined 
in the fatal Sugar-house Prison 
at New York, and barely escaped 
alive. Ho was a Yale graduate 
in 1788, and was actively en- 
gaged in the ministiy seventy 
years. He was chosen chap- '^ 

lain of the United States House of Representatives in 1855, then in the 
ninety-fourth year of his age. He revisited West Suffield in September, 
1858, and in this last visit preached an excellent discourse, ascending 
and descending the pulpit with the sprightliness of a boy, though ninety- 
seven years of age. He died at Syracuse, New York, July 30, 1864, in 
the one hundred and second year of his age. His successors, with time 
of service, have been : — 







Kev. Joseph Mix, 


settled Dec. 


14, 1814, dismissed 


Nov. 23, 


1829. 


" Erastus Clapp, 


supplied from 1833, to 


April 1, 


1839. 


" Benjamin J. Lane, 


" from June, 1839, " 


June, 


1841. 


" Joseph W. Sessions, 


, settled Jan. 


11, 1843, dismissed 


Nov. 23, 


1852. 


" Henry J. Lamb, 


supplied from June 15, 1853, to 


Mar. 11, 


1857. 


" Henry Cooley, 


settled June 


6, 1857, dismissed 


Feb. 23, 


1864. 


" Charles B. Dye, 


supjJied from July, 1864, to 


Nov. 1, 


1865. 


" William Wright, 


" " 


April, 1866, " 


April, 


1869. 


" Stephen Harris, 


" " 


April, 1869, " 


April, 


1871. 


" Augustus Alvord, 


" " 


Oct., 1871, " 


October, 


1872. 


" Austin Gardner, 


" " 


Jan., 1873, '• 


April 1, 


1876. 


" John Elderkin, 


" " 


June, 1876, " 


December 


,1879. 


" Edwin G. Stone, 


" " 


Mav, 1880, " 


May, 


1882. 


" Newell A. Prince, 


" " 


1882. 







sr i-KiKi.f). 'S'J'i 

The churcli ul' the " Si'|iariitos," or '• Now Li>;lits," wus composed of 
dissenters or scccders from tlie '• Standinir Older," led by Joseph 
Hastings, who was ordained the first minister, April 18, 1750. The 
separation bej^an about the year 1742, and meetings were held in private 
houses, where exhorters and shouters enjoyed religious freedom. A 
ehurch was probal)ly formed when Mr. Hastings was ordained, though 
no record of it is found, and no roll of its membership (exists. Sept. '20, 
17(3;J, the town voted " That the Sc])arates shall set their JIi'etiug-iIou.se 
on the Hi^dlway that go(!s liy (Jeneral Lyman's, West, viz. on y° north 
side of the Highway between the foot of the hill anil Mr. (Jideon 
Granger's Lot." It was built soon after. The Rev. Israel Ilolley was 
ordained its pastor, June 29, 1703. Soon afterward Baptist sentiments 
crept in, and the doctrines of baptism, infant sprinkling, half covenant, 
etc., separated the Separates. Again, .Josejih Hastings (who had 
withdrawn or been dismissed) marshalled the disaffected, and led them 
to " pastures green" on '• Zion's Hill." The Separate society lost the 
larger part of its mendjcrship, but maintained a feeble existence until 
about 1784, when its meeting-hou.sc was sold, and the members mostly 
returned to the ancient fold. Mr. Holley became a Congregational 
minister, preaching at Oranby and North Cornwall. He was a man 
of ability, and a jtatriot, as shown by his printed address, delivered at 
Sullield the Sunday aft(U' the destruction of tea in Boston Harbor. 
The origin, growth, and colla.])se of the Sc])aratists make an interesting 
episode in Connecticut history. Only ten or twelve towns had the "New 
Light" societies; Suilield, lOniield, and Windsor being of the number. 

The first '-Baptized Churcli" and s(jcicty was an offshoot from the 
Separates, and was organized in 17()0, with Joseph Hastings for its 
first minister. It built a brick meeting-house on Zion's or Hast- 
ings Hill, about that period. No church records exist, and little is 
known of its history under Joseph Hastings's pastorate. His son John 
was the second minister; he was ordained in 1775, and served with 
marked success as a revivalist until his death. He is said to have 
baptized eleven hundred persons durhig his ministry, and he was one of 
the most eminent ministers of the Baptist faith. Few men have lived 
whose influence has been more potent in shaping the religious, social, 
and ])olitical character of the town. Nine churches were formed by 
colonies from this. The little brick meeting-house gave way to a large 
barn-like structure, without tower, bell, or steeple. At the beginning 
of this century the i)ilgrims who wended their way to Zion's Hill 
were numbered by .scores and hundreds. These scenes arc now tra- 
ditional memories. In 1840 the present more cheerful edifice was 
built upon the site of the old. 

These inscriptions are copied from gravestones in the Hastings Hill 
churchyard : — 

" In memory of Joseph Ha.stiiiRs, who died Nov. 4, 1785, in the 82d year 
of his age. He was the first liaptist minister in Suflfield. 
" I)c]iart my friends, ilry np your tears, 
Hire 1 must lie, 'til I'hrist njuwars." 

" Sitcred to the inciuory of the I!ev. John Hastings, who died the 17th of 
March, a.u. 1811, in the 68th year of his age, who was the 2d Baptist minister 
iu Suffield. 

" Wliolikc liic A]K«stli's, enlleil fi-oiii incn'.s emiiloy, 
MhJi; sinners trcnilile, filled tlie saints with joy." 



394 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

The Rev. Asahel Morse succeeded Elder Hastings in 1812. He 
was one of the delegates from Suffield to the Constitutional Convention 
of 1818, and the article relating to religious liberty is said to be 
from his pen. He died June 10, 183(5, in his sixty-sixth year. The 
Rev. James L. Hodge succeeded him ; and among the very numerous 
successors none have been more eloquent, genial, and successful than 
the Rev. James L. Hodge. 

The Second Baptist Church was colonized from the first, and was 
constituted May 22, 1805, with fifteen members ; namely : — 

John King. Elisha Adams. Cynthia Brunson. 

Kufus Granger. Jonathan K. Kent. Tabatlia Symans. 

Chester Stebbins. Theodore Symans. Haiuiah Pease. 

Seth King. Aureha Granger. Polly Adams. 

William Levee. Anne Kent. Lorain Peirce. 

Tliis small church body was reinforced by a large number styled 
" Baptii5t People," who in 1806 began preparations for building a 
meeting-house on High Street, which, after many trials of various 
kinds, was erected and occupied in 1810. This edifice possessed all the 
architectural beauties of its prototype on Zion's Hill. This, with the 
parsonage and the " horse houses " (where the brethren discussed con- 
stitutional amendments and the crops, and drank each other's cider 
Sunday noons), stood a little south from the bank, on land now Charles 
L. Spencer's. In 1839 this lot and buildings were disposed of and the 
present site bought. The present church was completed and occupied 
in September, 1840. This church property, with all its improvements 
and a]ipointments, represents a cost of about f 50,000. 

Elder Stephen Shepard and Elder Tod were pioneer itinerants, and 
preached here in 1805. Elder Joseph Utley, of Groton, first officiated 
in administering the sacrament, but no permanent minister was " called " 
until 1810. The following is a record of ministers " called," with term 
of service : — 

Eev. Caleb Green, 1810-1815. Rev. Miner Clarke, 1837-1838. 

" Bennet Pepper, 181.5-1823. " Horace Seaver, 1838-1839. 

" Tubal Wakefield, 1823-1824. " Dwioht Ives, Sept. 29, 1839- 

" Calvin Philleo, 1825-1830. April 5, 1874. 

" Amos Lefevre, 1830-1832. " John E. Stubbert, 1874-1882. 

" George Phippeu, 1832-1834. " Burton W. Lockhart, 1882 (present 

" Nathan Wildman, 1835-1837. incumbent). 

Its church-roll numbers thousands, and its present membership is 
about six hundred and fifty. 

The Rev. Dwight Ives was an able man, eloquent in the jjulijit, prac- 
tical and sagacious in business affairs, strong in the hearts of his people 
at their homes and firesides. He was pastor thirty-four and one half 
years, or one half the period of the church's existence, and longer 
than liis ten predecessors combined. He removed, with his family, to 
his early home in Conway, Mass., where he died, Dec. 22, 1875, in his 
seventieth year. 

Before 1830, itinerant Methodist exhorters occasionally visited the 
town, but gained no apparent foothold. The Methodist Society of West 
Suffield dates its beginning from a Quarterly Meeting service held by 



SUFFIELD. 395 

courtesy at the ConjjrcfriitioiKil clnircli tliorc. Mcctiiipa vrcw held in 
seliool-houscs, private thvelliiiirs, ami lianis. In 18:!3 the Kev. Charles 
Chittendon, a revivalist, was ]»laecil here iiy the Conference with mnch 
snccess, and since that time (exeej.t lHr)4) the Conference has sn|.|ilied 
its ministers. In 1S31I the society imilt and dedicated their niretint;- 
hoiise, with the present hell in its tower. The leadinjr nien in this 
work were (Jnstavns Austin, Charles Denison, David lla.stinjjs, Horace 
Tnller. Cnrtis Warner, Warren Case, John .Johnson. A parsona^^e was 
bnilt in 18')ii, nniinly thron-rh the etTorts of the Hev. Frederick Ikown. 
Olin L. Warner the .scnlptor was horn here, April '.t, 1H44. his father, 
the Rev. Levi Warner, beinij minister in eharire. The father of the 
Rev. Dr. Bnrton, of Hartford, was the minister lierr in iM.'.T. 

The first Episcopal service here was held at the town-hall. .May 14, 
181)"), and reiiular services were continned. The Einseo|)al Society of 
Calvarv CluiirlNof .^^utlield, was institnted An-r. 4, 18(!'), at the dwelling- 
house of (!eoru;e Williston. Its lirst oHicers then appointed were Archi- 
i)ald Kinnev. warden senior; Anson Birge, warden junior; vestrymen, 
(u'oriic Wiiliston, Sands N. Bahcock, Alfred Owen, Robert E. Pinney, 
TimnUiy Ivinnev, Bnrdetto Loomis, Ashhel Easton; i)arish clerk. Robert 
E. I'innev : treasurer, George Williston. Initiatory steps were taken 
at that tiine toward securing a site for a church, resulting in its present 
neat edifice. Its corner-stone was laid May 7, 1872: tlic first service 
in it was held .hine 21, 1874; it was dedicated July 7, 1874. Its cost, 
with one acre of land, was 813,7.50. The church now numbers forty 
communicants. The Rev. Augiistns Jackson was the first rector. His 
successors have been numerous. The Rev. William L. Peek is now 
rector. 

The first Roman Catholic service held in Suffield was at the house of 
Jolin tiillicran. June 18, 1882; and the second was in the school-honse 
h:ill. in West Snllicld, July 30, 1882. conducted by the Rev. P'athcr 
Michael KcUv, of Windsor 'Locks. Services have been continued regu- 
larly since, and the members have bought a site midway between the 
villages, and are about to erect a church thereon. The ground was 
broken for it, with proj^er ceremonies, April 20, 1885. 

Eight churches have been established here, including the Rornan 
Cathofic. The tolerant reception accorded the last two is in striking 
contrast with the history of the five preceding, — each in turn meeting 
opposition, if not persecution, from those who should have extended the 
welcoming hand. Education has done much toward dispelling bigotry 
and intolerance in the good old town. 

Two lots of land, one of sixty and one of twenty acres, on the east 
side of High Street, were set ;i))art in lf)71 "for the Ministry, to con- 
tinue for that use forever." The ftirmer is now occupied by E. A. 
Fuller and J. F. Fairchilil, and the Knox Hotel is on the latter. In 
the second division t)f proprietary lands the *' Ministry Meadow " was 
added. The mini.ster occupied portions of these lands to eke out a suj>- 
port. After 1740 the Second Ecclesiastical Society shared in the income, 
if any, and the town had charge of the lands, jiroperly applying the 
avails. In 1790 the Rev. Ebene/.cr Cay asked the town •• (o devise 
some way to make the land more i>rofitable." In 1791 the sixty-acre 
lot wax leased for nine hundred and ninety -nine years to Elijah Granger 



396 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

for an annual interest on the sum of £351. It is still occupied under 
this lease. In 1797 the two ecclesiastical societies, by mutual agree- 
ment, divided the fund, the first society receiving three fifths of the 
interest from the sixty-acre lot and the whole of the twenty-acre lot ; 
and the second receiving two fifths of the interest money and the whole 
of the Ministry Meadow. In 1844 the leaseholders paid the £351 to 
the societies. In 1803 the " Baptist People," having a majority, voted 
in town-meeting that the Ministry Lands should l)e divided among the 
three religious societies, and took measures to carry the vote into effect. 
The courts were applied to, and after a period in which social, political, 
and religious affairs here were distractingly mi.xed, the Supreme Court 
decided that the town had no jurisdiction over the Ministry Lands, 
but they belonged to the first religious society of the town. The second, 
being a branch of the first, retained its share. 

Most of the early settled towns were founded under grants from the 
General Court to companies or individuals with certain conditions, with- 
out a formal act of incorporation. The date of Suffield's incorporation 
(if such we may call it) was June 3, 1674, when the General Court 
gave the town its name, defined its bounds, and gave it some corporate 
advantages. At the first town-meeting, March 9, 1682, no moderator 
was chosen ; but Major John Pynchon, who was one of the thirty-four 
qualified voters present, probably served in that capacity. Five select- 
men were chosen by papers (ballots), a town clerk, two highway survey- 
ors, a land-measurer, and a sealer 

(Jncuo^AvLx ^yil^ncfiOTL ' °^ leather, -all to serve for one 

/ <^ *■ 't^ ' -^ • year. No treasurer was chosen, 

. I or needed, as taxes, salaries, and 

f/Vj ,^ r L I '^ debts were paid only in grain, pro- 

y J i. d,! OjX ^AC' Q • visions, etc., the price-current of 

^ . ^ which was regulated by town vote, 

T /^_fc_J and was called " town pay." The 

^ w T) ^ town government was thus or- 

ganized : " leaving y* affaires of 
y* Towne henceforward to j" Inhabitants hereof according to Law ; " 
and there is an unbroken record of their transactions down to the 
present time. 

In 1693 the town sent Captain George Norton as its first represen- 
tative to the General Court at Boston. On the 3d of July, that year, 
" The Towne being legally met together, and considering the state of the 
Towne, that they are poor, and not able to heave the charges of sending 
a Representative, and paying him for his time, have agreed to discharge, 
or free their Representative from that service and to ly at the mercy of 
the honorable assembly, hoping they will consider our poor and low 
condition, and not take advantage against us, soe as to impose any fine 
upon us." 

The second representative was Captain Joseph Sheldon, in 1703, 
also in 1705-1708. He died at Boston, Aug. 2, 1708, the Governor 
and both branches of the Assembly attending his funeral. His suc- 
cessors were : Jonathan Tavlor, 1709 : Jacob Adams, 1711, 1714, 
1717 (he also died at Boston) ; Atherton Mather, 1712, 1713, 1715, 
1716; John Austin, 1718-1720, 1723; John Kent, 1724, 1725,1727- 



SrFFIF.LD. 



397 



1731 • .lulin IJurl.aiik, 1T-2f>; Christopher Jacob Law-ton, 1732-1735; 
Captain Josiah Sheldon, ITStl; Samuel Kent, 1737 ; Sanuiel Kent, Jr., 
1738 and 1742. 1 le was the last rejirosentative at Boston, from Sulhcld. 
The year 1749 was a notable one in the town's history for its revolt 
from Massachusetts. The settlement of the colony lino in 1713 was 
never satisfaetorv to the people of SufTi-dd, when it was known to be 
within the Connecticut Patent. Th.« i^eoidc had not been consulted 
about so grave a matter, and their dissatisfaction soon took form, as 
seen in the following town votes : — 

" Nov 17 1720. Voted, that .John Burbank shall take care and see what 
encoumgeraent he can tin.l for us, to get to the Government of Connecticut to 
brine to°the town the next March Meeting." , , . ^ t u it * * 

" March 17-^V4 The Town by a clear vote made choice of John Kent to 
be their A<'ent to manage according to the best of his discretion, in and for the 
procuring for y' said Town, the privileges of Connecticut Government. 

The town voted him si.K shillings a day for sixteen days as agent to 
Connecticut No change was effected at this time, but the people were 
no less determined " to procure the privileges of Connecticut Govern- 
ment," and for many years declined to send representatives to Bo.ston. 

"March 20 1747. Voted, to appoint Capt. Phinehas Lyman an Agent for 
this Town, and' in our name to joyn with the Committee or Agents appointed, 
or to be appointed bv the Towns of Woodstock, Somei-s and Lntie d, ti) make 
application to y' great and General Court of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, 
and General Assembly of Connecticut, or to either of them, as the Conimittee or 
niaior part of them shall by good advice think best, to obtain our right in being 
released from y" s" Province and set off and allowed to belong to y' Colony of 
Connecticut, as bv Law and Justice we think we ought to be. And our s 
Committee are to take y« best advice they can obtain, in the. s" affiur, in order 
to obtain the s* end, and to be at a proportionable part of y' cost, that shall be 
expended in s* aflair with y" s* Towns, according to our List. Capt. Lyman as 
an agent not to take out of the Treasury above twenty pounds old tenor. 

Phinehas Lvman, of Suftield. was at this time a leading member of 
the Hampshire Conntv 15ar, and as principal agent of the revolting 
towns prosecuted the matter with great energy and success. In May, 
1747 petitions were addressed to l)oth Assemblies, stating gnevam-es, 
and asking for the ai)i)ointmcnt of Commissioners of Conference. Con- 
necticut appointed and reappointed Commissioners, but ifassachnsetts 
declined Vfter two vears of ineffectual negotiation the Connecticut 
Oeneral Assemblv, Mav session, 1749, cut the " Oordian knot" by a 
single act which" succinctly states the whole case, and is found in 
Iloadlv's " Colonial Records," vol. i.x. p. 431. 

All"- 10, 1749, " N'oted to rai.se 340 jwunds old tenor to pay for our 
£rottin""off into Conneeticut." Two elections of town-officers were hehl 
this vear- the first in March, under Massachusetts government, and 
the other in December, which was the first town-meeting under C.jii- 
necticnt laws. Massachusetts a.ssessed the seceding towns for twenty 
years, hut the taxes were not levied. „ , , r, 

Great interests connected with the succeeding French and Kevo- 
lutionary wars overshadowed, but did not terminate, the boundary 
(juestion. 



398 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



The State line west of the Connecticut River was established in 
1803, and then for the first time in its history the town was at rest 
within its knoum borders. The motives of its inhabitants for secession 
have been attaclied, but the facts furnish a complete defence. 

The town was first represented at the Connecticut General Assem- 
bly in May, 1750, by Phinehas Lyman and Asaph Lea-sntt. It has since 
been represented every year, except in 1838, when a " Conservative " 
candidate left neither Whigs nor Democrats in a majority, which was 
then required to elect. 

Suflield was estabhshed an independent probate district June 4, 
1821, having previously formed a part of the Hartford District. Its 
judges have been : — 



Oliver Pease, 1821-1830. 
Luther Loomis, 1830-1842. 
Kneeland Loomis, 1842, 1843. 
Odiah L. Sheldon, 1843, 1844. 
Harvey Bissell, 1844-1846. 
Luther Loomis, 1846, 1847. 
Harvey Bissell, 1847-1849. 
Samuel B. Loav, 1849, 1850. 
Luther Loomis, 1850, 1851. 



George WiUiston, 1851-1860. 
David Hale, 1860, 1861. 
George Williston, 1861, 1862. 
Horace Sheldon, 1862-1864. 
George WiUiston, 1864, 1865. 
David Hale, 1865-1867. 
George Williston, 1867-1879. 
William L. Loomis, 1879 (present 
incumbent). 



The recorders, or town clerks, have been : 



Anthony Austin, 1G82-1708. 
John Austin, 1708-1715. 
Joseph Winchell, 1715-1722. 
John Austin, 1722-1737. 
Joseph Wincliell, 1737-1743. 
Joseph King, 1743, 1744. 
Benjamin Kent, 1744-1762. 
Aaron Hitchcock, 1762-1775. 
Alexander King, 177-5-1802. 
Oliver Pease, 1802-1840. 
Odiah L. Sheldon, 1840-1845. 



WiUiam Tuttle, 1845-1849. 
George A. Loomis, 1849-1851. 
Luther Loomis, 1851-1856. 
William L. Loomis, 1856, 1857. 
Horace Sheldon, 2d, 1857-1859. 
William L. Loomis, 1859-1862. 
Horace Sheldon, 2d, 1862-1864. 
William L. Loomis, 1864-1870. 
Alonzo C. Allen, 1870-1878. 
WiUiam L. Loomis, 1878 (present 
incumbent). 



In 1681 Sufifield had " a foot company " of soldiers under Lieuten- 
ant Anthony Austin, with George Norton " his ensignc." Norton 
became, in 1692, Suffield's first captain. His few successors in the 
Massachusetts militia were Captain Joseph Sheldon, 1705; Captain 
Joseph Harmon, 1709 ; Captain Joseph Winchell, 1722 (who served 
until ills death, in 1743, in his seventy -third year) ; Captain Jonathan 
Sheldon, 1743 ; and Captain Phinehas Lyman, 1746. The royal road 
to civil office lay through military promotion. The town records are 
studded with titled names, that of " corporal " being no mean honor. 
Indian wars were frequent and long-continued. Military watches were 
then kept up day and night under the charge of the officers, and the 
guard seats in the meeting-house were occupied by soldiers. Every 
soldier was liable to be detached or impressed into their " Majesties' 
Service." In Queen Anne's War, from 1703 to 1713, Hampshire 
County soldiers were constantly employed in keeping watch at home, 
or in scouting and garrison duty up the river. Judd's History of 
Hadley says, " Judah Trumble, of Suffield, was slain July, 1706," 
The town records do not allude to these wars. 



NUFFIELD. 399 

New Eiigliuul's t'oiiilh IiiiIImh war, truni 17J- \u IT^G, r.'aiiscil miu;h 
distress tlironiJioiit ILinipsliiic ("ounty. Tliuiiirli reiuoto from tlic bor- 
der, Suflield men were coiistautly in service as j^uards, scouts, or in 
garrisons. A few names are ]jreservi'd. Natlianiel Anstin, Samuel 
Ifaiiiday, Daniel S])eneer, David Smith, Sanuu'l (Iramn'r. Samuel Con- 
ley (drummer), .John Morse, Nathaniel Smith, .lames I'omtM-oy, Ahra- 
ham Burljank, Thomas Rcminirton, dames Kiii^, and William Allen 
were in Captain Samuel IJarnard's company at the Deerfield garrison 
in 1722-1723. Captain doseph Kellogjr, of Sutlicld, commanded the 
garrison at Northlield in 1723-1724. Corporal James Stevenson, John 
King, Joseph Alli'U, David King, Nathaniel Austin, David Smith, 
Matthew Copley, Thomas Austin, and Ehenezer Smith were in his com- 
pany. Captain Kellogg was taken prisoner by the Indians at Deer- 
iield in 1704, wiien twelve years old, and lived among them ten years. 
When liberatetl he made Sultield his home, where his father, Martin 
Kellogg, and family had resided since 1711. Captain Kcdlogg was 
in command at Fort Dummer from 1726 to 1740. Two of his children 
were born there. This fort was built, in 1724, on the Connecticut 
River, within the present town of Urattleborougli, Vermont, and was the 
first white man's aljodc erected in that State. Captain Kellogg was 
the best Indian interjireter in the country, and was employed in that 
service until his death, in UoO. In the old French an<l Indian War 
of 1744-174S Sullield took a part. Captain John Harmon, Lieutenant 
Benjamin Harmon, and Ensign Josejih Adams commanded the sixth 
company, first regiment of JIassaeluisetts enlisted troops, at the forty- 
nine days' siege and capture of Lonisburg, in 1745. No muster- 
roll of the company is found in the Massachusetts archives. Sufiield 
had tiiree militia (loot) companies in 1744, and held that number for 
more than a century. The oilicers of these trainbands first holding 
commissions under the Connecticut government, in 17ol, were: North 
company, first society. Captain Asajili Leavitt, Lieutenant William 
King, Ensign Samuel Granger ; South company, first society, Cajitain 
Phinehas Lyman, Lieutenant Abraham Burbank, Ensign Elijah Kent ; 
West comjiany, second society. Captain Mcdad Pomeroy, Lieutenant 
Samuel Ilarman, Ensign .lohn Granger. 

The French and Imlian War, 1755-17(32, terminated the French rule 
in Canada. Ovt'rshadowed by the War of the Revolution, its history 
is little read or known. For eight years, and eight campaigns, Major- 
General Phinehas Lyman, of Suftield, commanded the Connecticut 
forces, aggregating thirty thou.sand men. lie was also a colonel of 
the first regiment, and captain of its first company in each campaign. 
No muster-rolls of this war are found in the State archives. The 
names of these Sullield soldiers are collected from various sources. 
Elijah Kent was first lieutenant, ninth company, fourth regiment, in 
1755. These men served in 1755, were in the liattle of Lake George 
that year, and re-enlisted in 175(), receiving • half-jiay '* bounty there- 
for; namely, Benjamin Bancroft, Nehemiah Harmon, John White, 
Joel Adams, David Bemeiit, Phinehas Lyman, Jr., Noah Pomeroy, 
Benjamin Scot, Seth King (drummer), ■lames Halliday, Ezekiel Hale, 
Zeb. Norton, Edward Foster, John Spencer.' in 175(1 Elihu Kent was 
second lieutenant in the first com|)any, Aaron Hitchcock captain of 

> .See llalf-i«iy lioll, Statf Aivliiv.'s. 



400 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUXTY. 

the sixth company, and Benjamin Bancroft was commissary of General 
Lyman's regiment. In 1757 Aaron Hitchcock was first lieutenant in 
General Lyman's company. In this year the Albany alarm occurred, 
and some five thousand Connecticut militia-men were quiclvly off for 
the frontier. The Suffield men known to have gone were Daniel 
Austin, Sergeant Benjamin Harmon, Jonathan Norton, Jonathan Shel- 
don, Stephen Old, John White, Josejjh Brunson, Isaac Hale, Aaron 
Phelps, James Halliday, Corporal Joseph Old, Daniel Spencer, Caleb 
Allen, Zaccheus Hanchett, Job Fowler, Abel Rising, Jeremiah Nel- 
son, besides some that came home without leave. They were in 
Captain Jonathan Pettibone's company. They went on horseback 
twenty-four miles, then on foot to the frontier. They were gone sev- 
enteen days, each getting $3.25 for the campaign, and about one dollar 
for horse-keeping. In 1758-1759 Elihu Kent was lieutenant and Seth 
King ensign in General Lyman's company. Abner Granger was (juar- 
termaster-sergeant, Aaron Plielps was adjutant, and his brother Timo- 
thy quartermaster in General Lyman's regiment in 1758. Timothy 
died in the service, Aug. 22, 1758. Caleb Sheldon was first lieutenant in 
the second company, General Lyman's regiment, and died near Lake 
George in 1759. He was a son of Josiali Sheldon. In the campaign of 
17G0 Setli King was first a lieutenant of the fifth company and tlien a 
captain of tlie twelfth, and was also adjutant in General Lyman's regi- 
ment. In 1761 Seth King was lieiitcnant in General Lyman's company. 
In 1762 England and Spain were at war, and Connecticut raised two 
regiments. The First Regiment, under General Lyman (except its 
eleventh company), was in the fatal Havana expedition. Of one hun- 
dred and thirty-four privates in Lyman's company forty-three died. 
The Rev. John Graham, Jr., was chaplain of the regiment. Seth King 
was captain of the twelfth company ; on his way home he was taken 
sick, and died in New York, Dec. 23, 1763. He served eight full 
campaigns under General Lyman, and was a valuable officer. He was 
born at Suffield, Oct. 18, 1735, a son of Josiah, and died unmarried, 
at the age of twenty-eight. 

Within forty-eight liours after the battle of Lexington one hundred 
and eleven Suffield men were on the way to Boston, commanded by 
Captain Elihu Kent, Lieutenant Oliver Hanchett, Ensign Consider Wil- 
liston. Sergeant Benjamin Harmon. They soon returned. A montli 
later, in May, 1775, a company of one hundred seven montlis' men were 
enlisted here, commanded by Captain Oliver Haucliett, Lieutenant 
Samuel Wright, Second Lieutenant Consider Willistou, Ensign Eliphalet 
King. They were with the main army at Cambridge, within the sound 
of the battle of Bunker Hill, readv and expecting to be called into 
the fight. 

In September, 1775, Captain Oliver Hanchett, of Suffield, com- 
manded a company in Arnold's expedition through the wilderness of 
Kennebec to Canada, against Quebec. After incredible hardships they 
were taken prisoners in the attack on Quebec. Tlie Suffield men in 
his company were, John Morris (killed), James Morris, Jedediah Dewey, 
Sergeant Peletiah Dewey, John Conlev (fifer), John Risden,i David 
Sheldon.2 

' John Kisden married a daughter of Elijah Shehloii. 

^ David Sheldon settled in Vermont, and became eminent. 



SUFFIKLD. 401 

In tlio War of tlic Revolution a connnittoo of insjipction was 
annually elioson to look after Loyalists, and aid tlic " Sons of Liberty." 
It is said of Siillield, there was not a Tory there. These Sufficld men 
held eoniniissions in the Continental army, and prohably others: namely, 
.Fohn Harmon, .Ir., eaptain: Henjamin Harmon, Jr., first lieutenant; 
Nathaniel I'omcroy, second lieutenant: Joel Adams, ensi^rn ; Consider 
Williston, first lieutenant; Uildad (Iranjrer, ensi<rn ; Phineas Lovejoy, 
captain ; Samuel (JranjU'er, lirst lieutenant ; Hildad Oranfrer, second 
lieutenant. The nnmljer of non-connnissioned olficers and privates is 
nnknown. Clotliins was provided for sixty-two three years' men in 1777, 
and the selectmen re])orted the names of forty-seven men in the service 
in 1781, enlisted for three years, or dnrinjr the war, and a deficiency of 
two in the town's ijuota. In 1777 the town voted £114 to procure 
tents and camp nt^^nsils, and to supply the families of soldiers with 
provisions ; also votcnl ^lo.") for soldiers' clothing, eonsistinjr of shoes, 
stockings, overalls, siiirts, and frocks. Inoculation with small-pox was 
initiated, but soon prohibited, and " those who had taken the infection 
were to be cleansed and discharged." The town procured and distrib- 
ntcd salt to every family, thereby preventing mueli suffering : and fur- 
ther provided for soldiers and their families. The town records indicate 
no soldiers recruited in 1778 or 1779. 

In 1780 the terms of some of the three years' soldiers expired. The 
town offered l)onnties to supply its quota. John Spencer enlisted for 
three years or during the war, receiving £-32 lOs. iid., and his taxes 
abated. Edward Howe and Josiah Rising each received one Inmdred 
Spanish milled dollars. In 1781 the town was classified, each of nine 
classes to ])rocurc a three years' soldier, or pay a fine of two hun- 
dred hard dollars. Jaques Harmon served through the whole war, 
was orderly sergeant, and present at the cxccutitm of Andr6. His 
orderly-book of that date, containing the order for execution, is 
preserved. 

In the war to save the L^nion, Suffield furnished thirteen commis- 
sioned oflicers and three hundred and fifty-eight soldiers (about two 
hundred of them being Suflield men). Thirty-two were killed in battle 
or died in the service ; twenty-seven were discharged, disaided : forty- 
eight deserted. No Suffield name is found among the latter. Three 
companies were reeruitcd at SulTield. Tlie first, in response to the call of 
the President in April, 18I)1, was musti'riHl into the Fourth Connecticut 
Infantry for three years' service. May 23, 18(51. One year later it was 
merged in the First Connecticut Artillery, serving with distinction as 
Company C. Forty-eight members were accredited to Suffield. The 
second was Company D, Sixteenth Connecticut Infantry, recruited 
August 18t!2, to serve three years. Of this company sixty-four were 
accredited to .'^ullield. Four of these were killed at Autit>tam, ten were 
wounded in l)attlo, three died at Andersonville, and six more died in 
the service. 'I'he third was Company (I, Twenty-second Regiment 
Connecticut Infantry, organized in September, 1862, for nine months' 
service. All its oflicers were Suffield men. Seventy-four were ac- 
credited to Suffield in this company. Two men died of disease, and 
one committed suicide. Tiie town finnished thirty-seven men to the 
Twenty-ninth (colored) Regiment. The remainder of the quota were 
scattered in many other regiments. 

VOL. II. —20. 



402 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

The amount disbursed to eighty-eight families of volunteers was 
$17,892.70. Of this, Suffield paid $6,599. The town paid bounties in 
1862 of fl25 each for eighty three-years' men (in Company D, Six- 
teenth Regiment) and $200 each for seventy-four nine-months' men 
(in Company G, Twenty-second Regiment), with recruiting expenses 
amounting to $25,170. For procuring thirty-seven men (in Twenty- 
ninth Colored Regiment) tiie town paid $3,700. This makes a definite 
sum of $35,469. Other bounties and expenses not itemized in the town 
reports would easily swell the war disbursements of the town to 
$50,000. 

For many 3-ears the wooded lands and heavy soils, though aided by 
the shad and salmon fisheries of the Oreat River, afforded but a bare 
subsistence to the inhabitants. This led young men of enterprise to 
seek a livelihood in trade and traffic. The .Suffield pcdler was known 
in every village within the outposts of New England civilization. He 
was welcomed at every home and fireside, for his bright, cheery ways, 
and his fund of information and news gathered in his travels from 
town to town. There were no newspapers, and the pedler's visit to 
these scattered hamlets was a benefaction. He sold feathers, wooden- 
ware, indigo, and cotton yarn in the past century, and tin-ware, powder, 
whips, cigars, and clocks in the present. The origin of many estates 
that have contributed most to build the meeting-houses and school- 
houses, and to push all jiublic improvements here, can be traced to the 
pedler's wagon. 

Improved methods, with improved implements and the successful 
culture of tobacco, have placed Suffield in the front rank as an agri- 
cultural town. In 1849 the number of farms here was 295. All but 
19 produced tobacco. In 1859 the number was 240 ; all but 14 pro- 
duced tobacco. In 1869. of 316 farms, only 24 failed to cultivate it. 
The culture of tobacco in small patches for home use. as a substitute for 
the more expensive Virginia product, was common in New England at 
an early date. It was smoked in pipes, and when twisted and prepared 
for chewing was called " fudgeon." Parliaments and General Courts 
in vain sought to repress or regulate its use. It was soon known that 
the Connecticut Valley soil was congenial to it, and the natural home 
of the Indian weed. In 1727 well-cured tobacco was legal tender at 
fourpcnce a pound to pay Massachusetts taxes. Tobacco was raised in 
Connecticut for export to Great Britain and his Majesty's Dominions 
in 1758. The law of that date required each town wherein tobacco was 
raised for exportation, to annually appoint tobacco inspectors. Suffield 
a])pointed them that year, and annually thereafter until 1772, when the 
impending war strangled the market. Tobacco was packed and pressed 
into casks. The packer received fivepence a hundred weight. His ini- 
tials, with the brand of the town, were upon each. Little is known of 
Connecticut tobacco as an article of commerce for the next half-cen- 
tury. About 1882 small quantities were packed in slats for New York 
market. It had assumed sufficient importance to be first noticed, in 
the United States census of 1840. In 1845 it began to be recognized 
that Connecticut tobacco, properly sweated and cured, had no equal as a 
wrap])er for a first-class cigar. Its popularity was such that the Suffield 
manufacturers in 1849 used 52,700 pounds of Connecticut seed4eaf for 



SUFFIELD. 403 

wrapping; Spanish cijrars, and "JTUjOU jiuunds for the same purpose in 
IS.id. Tlie Suflield product in 18;J"J was GtJ,3'J0 pounds; in 1849, 
109,550 pounds ; in l8o',i, -JTo.tl.JO pounds ; and in 1809, 719,087 pounds. 
The figures of the yiidtl of 1879 are not oljtainahle. 

The year l8lll niurked an inijiurtant era in the town's history. 
Cigars were seldom seen here before l8U0. Tliesc were imported 
from the West Indies. A foreigner, Spaniard or Cuban, of intemperate 
habits, — a cigar-maiver by trade, and a tramp, — drifted to West 
SutHcld, and in some way made the acquaintance of Simeon Viets, 
wlio was a man of enterjirise, and a Connecticut Yankee. The result 
was tliat A'iets bought a little Spanisii tobacco, gave the man a "job," 
and began the manufacture of "genuine Spanish cigars," — the first 
industry of the kind in the Connecticut valley, if not in New England. 
Girls were taken as apprentices, and instructed by the Cuban in the art 
of making a "Principe" cigar. This was made 4i inches in length, 
with a " kink head." To make the '• kink " was such an accomjdish- 
ment that when it was mastered the trade was acquired. Mrs. Clarissa 
Rose, ne'e King, and Airs. Sally Olds, ne'e Ingraham, were the first two 
learners, and were not out of practice fifty years later. Viets employed 
many women and girls in making cigars, and sold them to pedlers to 
distriljute over the country. .James Loomis was the first jiedler to 
carry Connecticut cigars into the State of \ew York. Viets failed in 
1821. His home and shop (a cellar-kitchen) were in the North School 
District, now Irish Row. The buildings have all disap|)eared. In 1830 
Simeon Viets died in poverty. Tlie fate of the Cuban is unknown, and 
his name forgotten, though he is remembered by persons yet living. In 
1820 many women had '* taken up " the trade, and Connecticut tobacco 
was used for cigars. Ai)out this time (certiiinly in 1822) the country 
stores received '-suife" (or super)' cigars in trade, and employed ped- 
lers to market them. In 1S30, in many a houschoKl the cigar-table and 
cutting-board had taken the place of the spinuing-whecl and the loom. 
For a (piartcr of a century a large number of Suttield families met their 
store-bills with '• super" cigars made by deft fingers within their own 
households. They brought in trade from one to two dollars per thou- 
sand. They were made of uncured and unmerchantable tobacco of 
every shade of color. Expert hands could make a thousand a day. 
A single SuHield linn in 18.J2 and 1853 bought from the country stores 
and packed 3,000,000" su|)ers," and sold them to New York and Boston 
wholesale grocers at from •*3.50 to ^S.lo per thousand, eliietly for a 
Southern market. Before 1800 the price of Connecticut tobacco had so 
advanced that the farmers found it more profital)le to sell their tobacco ; 
and <lomestic cigar-making soon ceased in Sufiit'ld homes. This indus- 
try was chiefly in ."^iilliclil, Windsor, and East Windsor.- The failure of 
Viets by no means ended the manufaetiwe of '• .'Spanish " cigars. Some 
who hail been his peillers had begun manufacturing their own cigars 
and peddling them. It may be said of all the leading cigar-manufac- 
turers of the town, that the foundation of their ample fortunes was laid 
from the iieddling wagon, and that the industry they reared had its rise, 
culmination, and decline within the lifetime of many of them. A list of 

' "Supe," or "super," was a cuiitrai'tiou of tin- woixl "supiTior," aiul was first uscJ 
derisively. 

* Sue article by F. S. Brown on Hartford County Tobacco, vol. i. 



404 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

pioneer manufacturers in successive order is given : James Loomis and 
Ids brothers (Parkes, Allen, Kneeland, Aaron, and John W. Loomis), 
Moses S. Austin and brothers (Samuel and Thomas H. Austin). Henry 
P. Kent, Preserved Allen. Many of them were dealers in Spanish 
tobacco, and Sufficld was for several years a centre for this trade. 

The United States Census of 1850 (manuscript) contains the first 
statistical account of the manufacture of Spanish cigars in Suffield. 
The domestic " super" cigars are not included. In 1849 the number of 
establishments was 21 ; the average number of men employed was 152 ; 
number of women, 80 ; Spanish tobacco used, 178,984 pounds ; Connec- 
ticut seed4eaf, 52,700 pounds ; number of cigars made, 14,482,000, — 
value, $165,000. In 1859, census of 1860, the number of establishments 
was 15 ; the numlter of men, 216 ; the number of women, 50 ; number 
of cigars made was 16,800,000, — value, #282,600. In 1870 the num- 
ber of men was 109 ; the number of women, 40 ; the number of 
cigars made, 6,000,000, — value, .$282,825. In 1880, leaf used. 74,965 
poimds ; cigars made, 3,244,035. In 1884 tlie number of men em- 
ployed was 43. 

The town had some importance on account of its manufactures 
of iron and cotton, and its fulling-mills, all located on Stony Brook. 
In 1700 the first iron-works wei'e "set up," the second in 1721, the 
third in 1722, and all were in operation until about 1770. The town 
gave Samuel Copley liberty to set up a fulling-mill ' in 1710. A cotton- 
milP for making cotton yarn was established here in 1795, and is be- 
lieved to be the first in Connecticut, and possibly the third successful 
cotton-mill in the country. Niles's " Gazetteer " (1819) credits the 
town with four cotton-mills, one paper-mill (Eagle Mill burned in 1877 
and not rebuilt), one oil-mill, three fulling-mills, and clothiers' works ; 
two carding-machines, three grain-mills, three tanneries, four stores, and 
five taverns. To this a score of cider-brandy stills might have been 
added. Now there are one paper-mill, two grain-mills, four stores, two 
taverns. 

The First National Bank of Sufheld was chartered July 12, 1864, 
with a capital of $100,000. It was increased to $200,000 in January, 
1865, and again increased to $800,000 in 1869. It was reduced to 
$200,000 (its present capital) in May, 1877. Daniel W. Norton was its 
first president, and Charles A. Chapman its first cashier. Its present 
officers are I. Luther Spencer, president, II. S. Sheldon, vice-president, 
Alfred Spencer, Jr., cashier. 

The Suffield Savings Bank was incorjiorated at the May session, 
1869. Its first officers were Martin J. Sheldon, president, Charles A. 
Chapman, treasurer. Its present officers are William II. Fuller, presi- 
dent, Samuel White, treasurer. 

The Suffield Agricultural Society was incorporated in 1877. Martin 
J. Sheldon was its first president. 

Town-meetings here were held in the meeting-houses for one hun- 
dred and fifty-seven years, and were conducted with great decorum. 
The first board of selectmen was chosen by ballot, and the. manner 
was never changed. The constables warned the voters to attend, and 

' These mills were on the Old Factory Road. 



SUKKIKLD. 



40; 



the clerk cullcil tlicir names at the o])eiiiuf; of tlie niecliiii^. Tliose not 
l)resent were lined live pence. Tliose wholly absent without a "satis- 
lying reason" were (ineil "Jx. tid. Every person presuming to speak 
witliout liberty from the moderator, or not keeijing silent when ordered, 
t'orfeitetl live shillings for caeh •■ iireaeh of order,'' one half the money 
to be given ■' to the poor of the town." After many generations had 







THE SHELDON UOUSE, WEST SLFFIELU. 

come and gone, new meeting-houses were built, and carpeted floors and 
cushioned seats a])peared instead of plain pine dcul. The town-meeting 
was not the orderly assemblage of old, and the town was compelled to 
provide a place for its meetings. It united with the first centre school 
district in ])rocuring the present site, and built a basement hall, to 
which their school-house was removed from the Common and placed 
above. Tiie hall was first occupied Oct. 7. 18:10: it was in use twentv- 
one years, and destroyed liy fire, Oct. i. ISOO. The present town-liall. 
built upon the same site, with the same co|)artiiership, was fii'st used in 
October, 18G2. The town expended for the buildiuii- and ajipointments 
87,798.48, and the district aliout one half as much ailditional. The 
roller-skating craze struck the town in 1884, and our fine town-hall is 
now a rinV". 



In 1682 the town held 60 families and about 300 inhabitants. 
Twenty-five of these family surnames are yet found here. Yw thirty 
years, or until the close of Qnceu .Vune's ^Var (171."li, there was little 
increase of numbers. In 17o9 there were 200 families, — indicating 



406 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

about 1,000 inhabitants. In the Connecticut census of 1756 the num- 
ber was 1,438. No record of the 1762 census can be found. In 1774 
the number was 1,980 ; in 1782, 2,248 ; in 1790, 2,412 ; in 1800, 2,686. 
For forty years after there was no increase, but a loss of 17. From 
1840 to 1870 there was a gain of 608, owing chiefly to the cigar-manu- 
facturing interest, wliich culminated during that period. In 1870 tiie 
population was 3,277, tlie maximum ; in 1880 it was 3,225. Tlie in- 
flux of Irish families fairly maintains our contributions to the census 
bureau. 

African slave labor was employed here at an early period. In 1672 
Major Pynchon's " negroes, Harry and Roco," helped to build the first 
saw-mill here. But few slaves (called servants) were held liere before 
1740. They were chiefly owned by the ministers, the magistrates, and 
the tavern-keepers. In 1726 the town voted Mr. Devotion " ,£20 to- 
wards y' purchase of his negroes." Tlie names of thirt3'-eight are 
found in the birth, marriage, and death records, and the number of 
the unmentioned must have been greater. Earlv statistics are meagre. 
In 1756, the number was 24 ; in 1774, 37 ; in"l782, 58 ; in 1790, 28 ; 
in 1800, 4. The last were manumitted in 1812. They were a social, 
hajipy race, and some married and had children, who were well cared 
for by the masters. They were increasing in numbers before the 
Emancipation Act of 1784 ; but after that they dwindled away. For 
half a century before the Lincoln Proclamation a negro was seldom 
seen in Suftield. 

The first " Burying Place '" was laid out of the " Common Land" 
on Meeting-House Hill, in 1684, " twenty rod in length and twelve 
rod in bredth."' In 1699 it was leased to Robert Old, " for pasturing 
and feeding cattle, for the term of twenty years, he to fence it and keep 
the bushes down, after the town has cut them." About one acre, laid 
out in private lots in 1849, adjoins it southerly. In 1850 it was enlarged 
westerly about an acre, and all are now within the same enclosure. 
In 1751 the West Ecclesiastical Society bought an acre of land for a 
l)urying-ground, next the meeting-house on Ireland Plain. In 1844 the 
School Society added to the east side half an acre. Soon after, a quar- 
ter of an acre for private lots was added on the east. In 1867 one 
more acre was annexed to the north and east sides of the whole, leav- 
ing within the present enclosure two and three fourths acres. On Zion's 
Hill, and West of the Mituntain. are grounds owned by burial-associa- 
tions, incorporated severally in 1866 and 1869. Woodlawn Cemetery is 
situated three fourths of a mile east from High Street, on the Feather 
Street road, contains twent3--one acres, and cost $4,263.75. Money ob- 
tained from the sale of lots has been expended for laying out and beau- 
tifying the grounds. It was appropriately consecrated Aug. 21, 1872. 
Somewhat remote from the busy centre, the quiet Ijeauty of its natural 
scenery, and its graceful marble and granite memorials to the dead, 
will make it a mournfully attractive place to the living. 

The Windsor Locks and Suffield Railroad Company was incorporated 
in 1868, with a capital of #100,000. Suffield subscribed and paid for one 
fourth that amount in 1869. This subscription was a bonus to secure 



SUI'I'IKI.D. 407 

the lniihlin;j: of the road liv the N(n\- Ilavcn, llaitfoni, aiui Sprinrrficld 
Company, with wliich it was (iiially iiierjiXHl May IT, 1871. A part of 
the road was first used Oct. 12, 1870 (hi-ct'iitonnial) to convey pas- 
sengers to Suutli Street Station. The road was formally opened witii 
a free excursion Dec. 10,l87i),and lirst opened to jjassenger and freight 
traflic Dec. 12, 1870. The town has never regretted its v-2.'>,000 invest- 
ment in the Sulfield Branch Railroad. 

A post-oHice was lirst opened in Suttield in 1796, with Hezekiah 
Huntington postmaster. William Gay succeeded liim, from 1708 to 
1835. His salary for the year 1800 was 880.52. In 1830 the amount 
of postage received was 825(3.30. A bureau-drawer at the day man- 
sion afl'orded ample room for the town's tri-weckly mail. The West 
Sutlield post-olhce was opened in 18:!0. with Erastns II. Weed post- 
master, ami a tri-weekly mail Ix'tween Hartford and Westlield. In 
1861 a daily mail-route to Springfield was estahlished. In 1884 a semi- 
daily mail-route to Sullield, connecting with the liraneh road, was 
opened. 

The East Suffield post-oHice was estahlished (at the Ferry) in 1851, 
and abolished in 1855. Francis A. Sikes was its postmaster. 

In 1681 the " Committee for settling the Town " laid out forty acres 
on the east side of High Street, "to remain forever to y use & sup- 
port of a Schoole in Sulfeild A- y' of a Grammar Schoole wlien it can 
be obtained." Little income was derived from it for a century, and it 
has never cxGccded twenty-live dollars a year since leased. The Prov- 
ince Law of 1603 ordered, " that every Town having 50 Householders 
should be eonxtantli/ provided of a School-Master to teach children to 
read and write." And in a town having one hundred families there 
should lie a grammar school set up. "and some jierson well instructed 
in the tongues" i)rocwred to leach such school; and elVorts were made 
to " set up a school "' in 11582, with what success is unknown. In 
1696 Anthony Austin, " with great reluetancy and aversation of spirit," 
con.sented "to tea-h children and youth" for the sum of X20 per 
annum. He served many vears, 

prol)ablv until his death, 'in'UOB. (l iP hSU -r — /* > 

Samuel- Kent, .3d, was the school- ^^^ thor,<jMuihn "^^ntP raA.iiL 
master in 1710. His year's salary ^ 

was £27. He accejited sixty acres of land in settlement for one year's 
service. Nathaniel Griswold taught in 1714. William Alleii was 
grammar schoolmaster, 1726-1730, for £30 a year. Jonathan Ashley 
was .schoolmaster in 1731. The records disclose no other names of 
town schoolmasters. The school was variously termed a " Free School," 
a " Pui)lick School," and a '"Grammar School." In 1606 Anthony 
Austin's salary of £20 was raised £12 njion the list, and £8 upoii 
scholars. In 1703 the town voted to pay fh(> schoolmaster £24 a vear, 
live of it to be raised on the scholar, proportioned to time of attendance. 
This twofold plan was continued in some form. To a late period wood 
was provided by a tax on the scholar. In 1710 the town voted " to lay 
one penny per jjole on such scholars aa go to school." and "th(^ remain- 
der of the school Rates to be raised as other Rales." Th(> Hampshire 
Comity Court saneti<meil this vote. In 1731 the town " voted £20 for 



408 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

y« promoting learning in the remoter parts of the town, that can't have 
benefit by the Publick School, to be disposed of for the teaching of 
children at four pence per week for each scholar that are taught by 
School Dames." A single school-house and public school had sufficed 
the town until 1740, when the West Precinct was established for better 
ecclesiastical and school privileges, and another school was '' set up." 
From this time until 1763 there were but two school houses and schools, 
each ecclesiastical society maintaining its own. In 1763 the first 
society was divided into four districts, and in 1764 the second was 
divided into three. Now the first has seven districts and eleven schools, 
and the second has four districts and five schools. In 1796 each eccle- 
siastical society was made a school society, and the schools passed from 
under ecclesiastical control. School societies were abrogated in 1856, 
and the control of the schools has reverted to the town, as in the begin- 
ning. The school districts retain the ancient privilege of providing 
school-houses and hiring teachers, sultject to the town lioard of school 
visitors. The number of children between the aaes of foui- and sixteen 
in 1829 was 532 : in 1884, 670. In 1884 there was expended for schools 
$6,227.21. The State and Town Deposit Fund contributed $1,976.53, 
or less than one third of the sum expended. 

The first school-house stood on High Street Common, near the meet- 
ing-house. It was " 20 foot in length, 16 foot in brcdth, and 6 foot 
stud, made warm and comfortable to keep school in." It was two years 
in building, and was com])leted in September, 1704. With some rejjairs, 
it stood thirty years. In 1732, the town voted to give Josiah Sheldon 
the old school-house and .£40 " to set up a school-house twenty-four feet 
long, eighteen feet wide, and nine feet between joints." It was built in 
1733, near the site of the first, not " within y'= space of ten rods of y** 
Meeting House." It was the last town school-house, and in 1797 was 
removed to the corner of Crooked Lane and Thompsonville Road, and 
is now one of the oldest dwelling-houses in the town. 

The West Society built its first school-house in 1750, on Ireland 
Plain, a little west from the meeting-house and burying-ground. It was 
"eighteen foot one way, and fourteen foot the other." In 1764 the 
society gave permission to build tiiree school-houses, one each in the 
Centre, North, and South districts, and the first school-house is not 
again heard from. The Rev's Ebenezer Gay (father and son) pre- 
pared many young men for college. Reuben Granger ke]3t a quite 
famous school for boys and girls before 1833. It was located at the 
" Pool," a mineral spring of some celebrity seventy years ago. 

The Connecticut Baptist Literary Institution, under the auspices of 
the Connecticut Baptist Education Society, was located here, and first 
opened for scholars in the upper rooms of the Centre District school- 
house, Aug. 21,1833. Its first board of trustees was appointed June 11, 
1833. The Rev. Harvey Ball was the first principal, with a salary 
of #600 a year, and Reuben Granger, assistant, with $350 a year. The 
Institution lot, 16 g acres, cost $3,500, and the present south building 
was first occupied Dec. 10, 1834, with the basement unfinished. The 
building, ciimpleted, cost about $6,000. Tbe Institution was incorpo- 
rated in 1835, with the word "Baptist" omitted from its name. The 
trustees were made corporators. The last survivor of these was All)ert 
Day, of Hartford. The State gave it $7,000 in 1840. In September, 



SUFl'-IELD. 



409 



1843, the Institution was first opened for the reception of girls. The 
first ladies' bnildinjr, near the site of the present, was erected and occu- 
pied in 1845. It was a neat cdiliceof brick, seventy-live by thirty-seven 
feet, four stories high, with a tower, and cost *0,000. In tlie early 
morning of Feb. '2'J, 187 li, it was burned. Measures were immediately 
taken to rebuild, and the present beautiful structure was completed and 




THE COXXECTICUT LITERARY INSTITUTIOX. 
MAix mii.mxns. 

first occupied in December, 1873. Its cost was about 365,000. The 
Middle Building, erected in 1853-1854, cost 813,050, and was opened 
Aug. 2, 1854. 85,000 were received from tlic State. In 1853 seven 
acres were added to the lot, costing 8-.'250. and on it the principal's 
house was built, costing 82,000. 

Timothy Swan was i)oi-n at Worcester, Mass., in 1758, settled at 
Suflield in 17S2, and married Mary Gay, the daughter of the minister, 
in 1784, who bore him twelve children. He was a hatter by trade, and 
also a merchant. He 
was the author of sev- 
eral popular pieces of 
sacred music, and was 
something of a |ioet. 
The famous "China" he composed at the old" Huntington "law-office, 
and it is first found in his l)ook, " Xew England Ilarnidny." pulilishod 
at Sullield in 1801. He wrote the lines to his " Poland," beginning, 
"God of my life, look L'i'nily down." He was a man of line i|ualities, 



^— ^'^T^ 



^177'iytr^^^^ C:^^^>^c2<5^i^ 



410 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

but somewhat eccentric. He removed to Nortlifielcl, Mass., in the latter 
part of his life, where he died, eighty-five years of age. 

Joseph Trumble, tiie Suffield proprietor, and a first settler in 1675, 
was a son of John Trumble, of Rowley, Mass., and had four sons. 
His son Jolin (called " John 1st " in the Suffield Records) was born at 
Rowley, Mass., in 1670. His children liorn here were Joseph, born 
1679; Ammi, iDorn 1681; Benoni, born 1684. The oldest son, John 
1st, lived and died in Suffield ; Joseph, the father of the first Governor 
Jonathan, settled in Lebanon ; Ammi, in East Windsor ; Benoni, in 
Hebron. Joseph, Sr., was made a freeman in 1681, and voted at 
the first town-meeting. He was a farmer, and had a fifty acre farm 
on Feather Street, West Side, below the present cross-road to En- 
field bridge. He was employed by Major Pynchon about the first 
saw-mill and dam at Stony River. He died at Suffield, Aug. 15, 1681. 
only five days after the birth of his son Benoni. He was the jjioneer and 
founder of one of tiie most distinguished Connecticut families. Among 
his lineal descendants for generations are found governors, judges, 
legislators, ministers, historians, the poet, and the ])ainter ; not the 
least of these was his grandson, "Brother Jonathan," the war governor 
of the Revolution, and the bosom friend of Washington. 

Major-General Phinelias Lyman was born at Durham in 1716, gradu- 
ated at Yale College in 1738, and was employed there three years as 
tutor, pursuing also his law studies. In 1742 he married, and Suffield 
became his adopted home. He established a law scliool here, and im- 
mediately took the lead of the Hampshire 
^''/i,~-r7 e ^auL ^^f^j'Trt^i^n County Bar in Massachusetts. The seces- 
sion of the town from Massachusetts in 
1749 terminated his connection with its courts. Tiie Hon. George Bliss, 
in his "History of the Western Massachusetts Bar in 1826," makes the 
advent of Phinehas Lyman (and his law students, Worthingtou and 
Hawley) the beginning of a new era in the practice and knowledge of law. 
He says: "He was a very able lawyer, and his Inisincss soon became 
extensive. He was a distinguished advocate, and was afterwai'd an able 
politician and a renowned officer." Once established in Connecticut, his 
diversified talents found constant employ. In 1750-1752 he was chosen 
deputy, and was a justice of the peace and a Massacluisetts boundary 
commissioner. For ten years he was governor's assistant. He was 
chosen major-general of Connecticut forces in 1755, and served with 
distinguished ability until the close of the war. President Dwight says : 
" No American at this time possessed a higher or more extensive 
reputation. Besides the high testimony given to his worth by tlie 
colony, he received many others from the British officers who were his 
companions in service," and whom he had entertained at his hospitable 
home. In 1763 he visited England, partly for relaxation from care and 
to recruit his impaired health, partly to visit his soldier friends, and 
partly as agent to secure bounties for provincial officers from the home 
government, which liad been promised. After many delays and disap- 
pointments he returned early in 1773, having secured for the company 
only a tract of land in West Florida, now ^Mississippi, twenty miles 
below Vicksburg, on the Big Black River. In January, 1774, General 
Lyman and his son Phinehas, with eight slaves, removed to the new 
plantation with other pioneers, General Putnam being one of the 



SUFFIELD. 411 

company. ITis wife and five ohildicn soon followed. Fie died Sept. 10, 
1774, Ijt'fore their arrival, and only his .son Tiiaddeu.s returned. He 
was the fatlier of the late Tluukicii.s Lyman, a mercliant of West 
Snfficld. General Lyman has but two lineal descendants now living. 
One of these has been, and the other now is, postmistress at West 
Sufficld. 

The Rev. Cotton Mather Smitli, son oi Samuel Smith, of SnlTield, 
was born Oct. 15, 1730, graduated at Yale College in 1751, and was 
ordained minister of Sharon. He died there Nov. 27, 180t!, in the fifty- 
second year of his ministry. During all that period he (jccupied a 
large place in pulilic al'fairs. He was a decided Whig, and served as 
chaplain in the Revolutionary War. His son, John Cotton Smith, was 
Governor of Connecticut 1813-1817, — the last under the colonial 
charter of 1662. 

Thaddeus Leavitt, son of John Leavitt, was born at Suffield, Sept. 9, 
1750 ; died Jan. 22, 1813. He ^ 

was a jiromineiit merchant, and "^/^^ ^ 

a eonnnissioner to settle the State y^jC f 9* ^7 1^ ^t " 

boundary line in 1803. ^/VCl^^- ..<C^^^f^^*^ 

Elias Austin, son of Richard, ^'—r-^ 

and grandson of Anthony Austin the schoolmaster, was born at Suf- 
field, April 14, 1718, and settled at Durham. His son Moses, born in 
1761, obtained, after various speculative adventures in the Southwest, 
a large grant of land in Texas from the Mexican Government in order 
to establish a colony upon it. This was al)out the year 1820. He died 
in May, 1822. His son. Stephen F. Austin, went to Texas and took 
possession of his father's grant, and laid out tiie town of Austin, which 
was afterward the seat of government. He was the founder of Texas. 
He was a commander-in-chief of the army, and was for a time at the 
head of affairs in Texas. He died in 1835, and General Samuel 
Houston was his successor. 

Aaron Austin, son of Aaron Austin, and grandson of Nathaniel 

Austin, was born at Suffield in 1745 ; he settled at New Hartford 

about 1767. He was an officer in the Revolutionary War : a town 

^,^ representative in 

/"O^ /^ ^ J twenty-seven ses- 

V' (/ ^ (y Council for twenty- 

' three years; State 

boundary line commissioner in 1803 ; a fellow of Yale College for fifteen 
years, receiving an honorary deirree. He was judge of the Litchfield 
County Court many 

years, and a churcli ^^ /^ /C"^ ' 

deacon at New Hart- y^/ /y^ o^y/ , 

ford thirty vears. He 
died in 1829. 

Gideon Granger, 
Jr., son of Gideon 
Granger, of SufTield, was born at Suffield, July 19, 1767, and graduated 
at Yale in 1787. He i)ecamc a lawyer of great distinction and celebrity. 
He served many years in the Connecticut legislature, and to his 




412 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



exertions the State is principally indebted for its school fund, and its 
dedication to the support of common schools. Tlie Western Reserve 

_. . .. ,„„ . ..rrrvr. gj,. i<^,fl-,gi(j mcn, namclv, Oliver 

Pheljjs, Gideon Granger, Jr., Lu- 
ther Loomis, Thaddeus Leavitt, 
Ebenezer King, Jr., and Asahel 
Hathaway, took one fourth of the 



was sold for fl,200,000, in 1795. 

whole amount. In 1801 Mr. Granger was appointed Postmaster-General 
of the United States, serving with great ability thirteen years. He 
died Uec. 31, 1822, at Canandaigua, New York. 

Francis Granger, son of the preceding, was born at Suffield, Dec. 1, 
1792, and graduated at Yale in 1811. His adopted home was Ganan- 




l^PT^Si^?^ 



daigua. New York, and he occupied a large space in the political history 
of New York State. He was aitpointed Postmaster-General in 1841, 
by President Harrison. He died at Canandaigua in 1868. 



/•"^r 




■^^!^^>!3fe^."s,^/^r^ 






''■'^«"Tf}-n-. . 



^ir- ^r 




lll'lllll IllllllllililllllllllliliiP pi! 






f )', 



William Gay, son of the first Rev. Ebenezer Gay, was born Oct. 16, 

1767, and graduated at Yale in 1789. He was a lawyer and a justice 

of tlic peace. Mr. Gay was appointed postmaster in 1798, and served 

continuously thirty-seven vears. Mr. Gay died 

^Z- y^ Jan. 24, 1844. His son, William C. Gay, grad- 

//h^ n-^jO uated at Yale in 1817, and was a young lawyer 

^ ^ W' C*^"^ of much promise. He died, unmarried, Dec. 

^ / 24, 1833. 



SUFFIELD. 



413 



Martin Sheldon, son of Elijah, and grand.son of Captain Jonathan 
(who was tho founder of this Plicldiin family), was i)0in Feh. 1, 
ITOii. lie was a man "f the old seliool, nf few words, jilain in his 
attire, of limited edneatinn. »_ ^ /->■ 

hutofgr..iti)raeticaleomnion y^^;j;;:^ZZxy cTX^/^^W, 

sense. He was a merehant, <^ ' * ty^ -«.'*-^/' c^ ^tr ri 

and a Western Reserve land-pnrchaser. He represented the town in 

the General Assemltly seventeen sessions, and was a director of the 

Newsrate Prison at (!ranbv dnring its last ten years, with Hun. Thomas 

K. Brace his associate. He was a substantial pillar of the Baptist 

faitii, a jiatron and a ])roniinent founder of the Connecticut Literary 

Institution. He died Sept. 4, 1848, in his eiglity-seventh year. 

Dr. Amos Granger, brother of Gideon, Sr., was born Oct. 16, 
1748. He represented the town in the legislature ten sessions, and 
late in life he removed to New York State, and died in 1811. His 
son. General Amos P. (Granger, was born at Sutfield, June 3, 1789, 
and .settled in Onondaga County, New York. He was a member of 
Congress from that district in 1855, and was a mo.st genial and popular 
man. He died at Syracuse, New York, Aug. 24, 18GG. 

Luther lioomis, son of Colonel Luther, and grandson of Graves 
^_^ Loomis (the founder of this 

^ i:^^ll^(^^^^ y Sulheld family), was born July 
t^/S^-t^^ caZ'^z'-^^.^-*^ 27, 1781. He was a success- 
or""^ fid merchant and an honored 
and useful citizen, serving the town in every capacity and every office 
within its gift, including that of probate jndge. He was si.K years a 
representative in the House and four years in the State Senate. He 
was the candidate of tlie Conservative partv for governor in 1842. He 
died March 31. 18G(i. in his eighty-fifth year. 

Dr. Sylvester Graham was 
born at West Suflicld. July 5, ~' 

1704. and died at Xortham])tou, 
Mass.,. '^ept 17,1851. He was tho 
youngest and seventeenth ejiild 
of the Rev. .John (Jraham, .Tr., 
and grandson of the Rev John 
Graliam, of Woodbury. He en- 
tered .Vmherst College in 1823, 
and there exhibited great pow- 
ers of elocution. \\\ 1820 he 
became a |irea<'her in the Presby- 
terian church. In 1830 he was 
employed as a lecturer by the 
Pennsylvania Tem|ierance Soci- 
ety. He soon came to the belief 
that the only permanent remedy 
for intemperance, and the only 
prevention and cure of disease, 
lay in the adoption 
of correct habits of 
living ; and he bo- 
came tlie advocate of 




i.^<y*^ f^^'^C 



<^r 



'*n 



414 MEMOEIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

a vegetarian dietetic theory, since called the " Graham system." His 
enei-gies were thereafter devoted to its establishment with an unceasing 
toil that shortened his life. He was a great student, unremitting to the 
last in his studies. He was editor of the " Graham Magazine," in Bos- 
ton, 1837-1840. His published works include an " Essay on the Chol- 
era," in 1832, and a " Lecture to Young Men," in 1837. A treatise on 
'■ Bread and Bread-Making," in 1837, led to his being mobbed by the 
Boston bakers. His chief work was " The Science of Human Life," in 
two volumes, in 1839 ; which has been the leading text-book of the 
dietetic and health reformers since. His last work — left unfinished 
at his death — was the " Philosophy of Sacred History," its object 
being to prove that the Scriptures harmonized with his system. He 
was a graceful and fascinating speaker, and liad a large following 
among the best classes of people in New York and Boston, where 
most of his lectures were given. All the world has heard of " Graham 
bread ;" while few know their indebtedness for it to Sylvester Graham, 
the distinguished vegetarian.^ 

' Thf portrait of Dr. Graham is from an engraving in '• Harper's Magazine." 



XXIV. 



WEST HARTFORD. 

BY THE KEV. FKAXK'IJN S. HATCH, 
Formerbj Pastor of the JFcst Ilart/ord Congregational Cliurrh. 

THE locality now known as the town of West Hartfoid was two 
hundred vcars ago an undivided tract of land in the West Divi- 
sion of Iliirlford." It was owned by a larsie company of lu-oprietors, 
sixty-eight of whom are named in the division record. On the oOth of 
January, 1()72, the joint owners of tiiis tract voted to divide a por- 
tion of the same according to their individual interests. In pursuance 
of tliis vote a committee set off, in November, 11174, an oblong section 
of land extending from the northern to the southern boundary of the 
town of Hartford, and from the eastern boundary of Farmington one 
mile and a half east. The Farmington line was at that time ahmg the 
level land at the foot of Talcott Jhuintain, and the eastern bound of this 
new rectangle was not far from what is now known as Vauderbilt Hill. 
This strip of land was divided into lots nmning the entire distance 
across it, the width being proportioned to each perstm's interest in tiic 
undivided territory. The widest ti'act was ninety-one rods wide ; the 
narrowest, a mere whi|)-lash three rods wide and a mile and a half long. 
The original strip was subsequently enlarged and made more symmet- 
rical by pushing the Farmington line westward to the toj) of Talcott 
Mountain and adding a strip of land to the cast end of the division 
lots. This part of the town of Hartford was commonly called the 
West Division. It never ceased to agitate for its individuality until it 
became a distinct ecclesiastical society, and, very recently, a separate 
township. 

Tiic Ecclesiastical Society of the West Division in Hartford was the 
parent of the town. Indeed, for nearly a century and a half it con- 
trolled the religious and educational affairs of the connnunity, and the 
history of the society is tiie history of the town, 'i'lie talk of the jico- 
ple concerning their need of a churcli otlier than the two at the centre 
of Hartford culminated in a petition present(Hl to tlie (ieneral Assem- 
bly sitting in New Haven, the 12th of October, 1710. Herein the 
petitioners "desire the liberty to call or settle, as we may see meet, a 
minister amongst us." The reasons recited may ])e thus condensed : 
" The distance is such that a good ])art of God's time is spent travelling 
backwards and forwards ;" '• the diHiculties of the way that many times 
must be encountered with, as l)ad travelling underfoot, uncumfortablc- 
ness oveihead, and a river not seldom ditlieult, sometimes impassa- 
ble;" " that our small cliildreu may Ijc present at the public worship 



416 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

of God, and not be brought up in darkness in sucli a land of light as 
this is ; " " the difficulties of leaving them unguarded at home, espe- 
cially in dangerous times, whereby we do not only expose them to 
their own fears, but to our Enemies' rage." 

This petition was resisted by the town of Hartford because the 
help of '• our neighbors of the West Division," was needed to maintain 
the three ministers already settled in tiie town. A special committee 
reported in favor of the West Division, and in May, 1711, the legisla- 
ture incorporated the society, according to the prayer of the twenty- 
eight petitioners. 

This society built the school-houses and ordered and maintained 
the schoojs. In 1730, and subsequent years, the following vote was 
passed : — 

" Voted : That the masters or parents of the children that are sent to school 
shall send half a cord of wood (for each child) to the school within fourteen 
days after they are sent to school ; and if any fail of so doing their children 
shall be barred (by the master) from any benefit of the fire kept in said school 
where they are sent." 

At this time the school year was eleven months, and during part of 
the year each school was taught by women. About the middle of the last 
century there were three school-houses in the parish. There are now 
eight districts in the town, each district maintaining a school in its 
own school-house. Besides these, the town sustains a high school at 
the Centre. Until about seventy years ago, public education was con- 
trolled by the Ecclesiastical Society. Since then the district system 
has prevailed. 

The church related to the Ecclesiastical Society was organized 
on or about the 24th of February, 1713, when also the first pastor, 
Benjamin Colton, was ordained and installed. Starting with a niem- 
bersliip of twenty-nine, it now numbers three 
■ *** ^jllj^Sn ^ hundred and twenty-five, having received into 
its connnunion during its life of a hundred and 
seventy-one years neai'l}' two thousand persons. 
It was originally called the Fourth Church of Christ in Hartford, but 
for a long series of years has been known as the Church of Christ in 
West Hartford. Mr. Colton was pastor of the church about forty-three 
years, and several of his descendants became clergymen. One of these 
was his son George, the famous and eccentric " Colton of Bolton." 
The latter jiart of this long pastorate was marred by some unhappy 
divisions, which were healed only by summoning advice from without. 

The second jjastor, Nathaniel Hooker, Jr., was undoubtedly the 
ablest man who ever ministered to this cliurch. He was a descendant 
of Thomas Hooker, the first minister of 
Hartford Colony ; and Governor Talcott, A/J^ 

who earned his title by seventeen years of %yw"^^ 

honorable service, was his grandfather. He — 
graduated from Yale College at seventeen, and was installed pastor 
when just twenty years of age. After a brief but successful ministry 
of twelve years, he died, " extremely lamented," says his epitaph ; which 
further adds, that he was " a warm advocate for civil and religious 
liberty, and a hearty friend to mankind." 



WEST IIARTFURD, 417 

The most remarkable pastoi-ate was that of Xatlian IVrkius. He 
served sixty-six years, liis pastorate beinir well begun when the fust 
sliot was fired at Lexiii<rtoii, and not quite over when the financial 
panic of 1837 occurred. Tliough probably inferior in natural ability 
to his distinguisiicd 
predecessor, he was a 
man of excellent ])o\v- 





New Jersey, and received his (iinliiiiitr lium that institulion in r^ill. 
Mr. Morris, his most careful biograjdier, says: "Dr. IVi-kins assisted 
more than one hundred and fifty young men in their preparation for 
ciillege, and had under his care at different times more llian thirty thei> 
logical students." The must abiding evidence of his biblical views is 
the Theological Institute, located in Hartford. It was at his desire and 
in his own house that a company of ministers met, and projected this 
institution, with its unique form of government, and his hands laid the 
corner-stone of its first imilding. H(! was one of the first home mission- 
aries, travelling at the l)idding of his Association to what is now Vermont, 
and preaching from place to place. His diary of tlie trip is still presen'ed 
by his descendants. In many other new movements for the pultlic good 
he was a pioneer, ami was more easily ])ersuad(;d t<j engage in enterprises 
of reform because of the progressive tendency of his mind. He wrote 
voluminously, and j)ul)lished a volume t)f miscellaneous sermons, several 
occasional discourses, and many magazine articles. His first ])ublished 
discourse was delivered on the public park, used as a training-ground, 
to a com])any of soldiers who were about to join the Continental army. 
It abounds in stirring and patriotic sentiments, and in severe dennncia- 
tion of the mother country. Dr. Perkins's most notalde public deliver- 
ance on political themes was a .senuuu preached on the day of fasting 
that followed the declaration of war with (Ireat Uritain, in 1812. In 
this sermon he considers national sins, especially intemperance, duelling, 
and slavery. His remarks on this latter theme arc far-seeing indeed. 
He thus foreshadows the " irre|)rcssil)lc conflict" of our day : "States 
whiidi do not hold slaves, and those which do, do not seem in the reason 
and nature of the case caiialde of enjoying a permanently hap|)y connec- 
tion, because they will be very dilVerent in their habits, education, views, 
principles, manners, and interests." 

The good Doctor had a fine sen.se of humor, and many are the 
stories handed down from his lips. Ilis salary was at one time partly 
payable in wood. t)ne of his jjarisliioners drove up to his door, and 
summoned him to examine and pronounce upon the load he had 
brought. It was a scragly lot of tree-tops. Dr. Perkins said nothing 
aliout the wood, but standing just l)ehind the load and looking directly 
into the loosely piled wood, he remarked, '■ That "s a fine pair of 
steers you have on the lead. Colonel."" The Doctor could not be 
cheated on any product of the farm. He was an excellent farmer and 
a large landholder. 

After the death of Di-. IVrkins, in 1838, there followed a series of 

short pastorates. From lSo3. when a colleague was called to assist 

Dr. Perkins, to 1850, the church was su))plied by four difTereiit jtastors. 

None of these is mure widely known than Caleb ."^. Henry, afterward 

vol.. II. — 27. 



418 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Dr. Henry, of New York. He wrote and translated several books in 
the course of his studies in philosophy, his favorite pursuit. He was 
succeeded by Edward W. Andrews, George I. Wood, and Dwight M. 
Seward. 

Myron N. Morris was pastor of the church for about twenty -three 
years, from 1852, and still lives an honored citizen of the town where 
he so long and so faithfully labored. He has always been intrusted 
witli the most important religious concerns of his State, and is still one 
of the corporation of Yale College. Twice he represented his town in 
the legislature ; and he has published, among other monographs, two 
discourses which contain the most complete history of the West Hart- 
ford church and community up to 1863.^ The present pastor of this 
church is Henry B. Roberts. 

The society has occupied four houses of worship, all on or near the 
same spot. The last was dedicated June 7, 1882, and is one of the 
most substantial and convenient churches in New England. It is 
built of Monson granite, and contains many valuable articles of fur- 
niture presented by old residents or pai-ticular friends of the society. 
Among these is the marble comnumion-table at which Dr. Bushnell 
was wont to officiate in the old North Church of Hartford. A part of 
the church is a library building presented by James Talcott, of New 
York, once a member of this church. This library and reading-room 
is open daily, and contains the leading newspaper and magazine litera- 
ture, and about eight hundred bound volumes, chiefly of standard 
works. The society also owns the parsonage and lot adjoining its 
house of worship, and the park opposite. 

Late in the last century a small society of Friends obtained a 
foothold in the town, in spite of the vigorous opposition of the " Stand- 
ing Order" led by Dr. Perkins. Few in number and weak in resources, 
it never flourished, and died after a .brief life. It gave a name, how- 
ever, to one of the public roads, which is still called Quaker Lane, 
and on which is located the little cemetery where the Friends buried 
their dead. 

No other religious society was organized in this town until 1843, 
when St. James's Parish, Ejnscopal, was established. The first public 
services of this society were held in the Friends' meeting-house, then 
standing on Quaker Lane. Worship was also conducted in the North 
District school-house. George Burgess, then rector of "Christ Church, 
had charge of the enterprise. There was an interval of several years 
during which no regular service was maintained. At length, in 1853, 
Samuel Benedict having become rector, the coi-ner-stone of a house of 
worship was laid. The building was completed in 1855, and at its 
consecration the sermon was preached by Dr. Croswell, of New Haven, 
who was born in West Hartford. This parish has been served by men 
who have attained eminence in the Church. Abner Jackson, President 
of Trinity College, was at one time rector ; the same office has also 
been held by President Pynchon, Professor Huntington, and W. F. 

1 Franklin S. Hatch was pastor from 1876 to 1S83. It was during his service and largely 
through his influence that the society erected the stone church, which is now the chief orna- 
ment of the village, and regained possession of the village park, which it has graded and other- 
wise improved. This pastorate was helpful to the material, intellectual, and moral interests 
of the community, and more than a hundred persons united with the church. — C. H. C. 



WEST HARTFORD. 421 

Nichols, who is now rector of Christ Cliiirch. Hartford. The present 
rector is J. W. Hyde. The property of tiie society is in the centre of 
tiie town, and inchides a lariie rectory, an old Imt fine hiiildinir formerly 
owned by Dr. Perkins, and occupied l)y him when pastor of the First 
Chnreh. The house of worship is of brick, and in trood condition. 

The Baptist society was established in 1858, and at once erected a 
church Ijuildinii at the centre of the town. The first minister of this 
church was Elisha Cushman, the well-known Dr. Cushman. editor of 
the '• Christian Secretary," of Ilaitford. In the same enclosure with the 
church is a neat parsonairc, and the jirojjcrty of the society is on one 
of the best corner-lots in the town. The present pastor is the Rev. 
H. B. Smith. 

In the south part of the town there is an undenominational house 
of worship, which is open for service every Sunday. It is controlled 
by a board of trustees, and the ser\-ices are conducted by ministers of 
difl'erent creeds. 

In May, 1707, the Ecclesiastical Society voted unanimously to take 
measures to be set off as a separate township from the town of Hart- 
ford. Per.se vering in this object until nearly two generations were in 
their graves, they at last triumjihed over the customary opposition, 
and in 18o4, In' si)ecial act of the legislature, the town of West Hart- 
ford was constituted. Its first representative was Edward Stanley, and 
its first selectman Solomon S. Flagg, who served the town in that ca- 
pacity for nearly ten years. Indeed, the excellent government of this 
town may be in ])art attributed to the haijit of keeping efficient men in 
office. Thomas Brace was treasurer of the town for eighteen years, 
including the entire war period, and Benjamin S. Bishop has been as- 
sessor for about twenty years. The senior officer of the town in length 
of service is Leonard Ihickland, who still holds the otTicc of town clerk, 
to which he was chosen in 18G1. 

In tlie War for the Union the town of West Hartfoi-d bore an 
honorable part. Many and frerpieiit were the town-meetings, and fierce 
and protracted the deljates ; lint sujiplies were always voteil, and the 
recruiting went steadily on until one hundred and seventy-four men — 
twenty-four in advance of her quota — had Ijeen furnished. Some of 
these men went to the front and returned without having engaged in 
a single action ; while others were hurried into one of the fiercest fights 
of the war before they had ever been on dress parade, and before their 
officers knew enough of military tactics to lead them from the field 
when the retreat was sounded. They were detailed for picket service, 
for work on the trenches, fur (jnick marches, and for guard duty ; they 
were led into tiie hottest Itattles and into skirmishes without number; 
but so far as can l)e ascertained, not one was lacking in those qualities 
which are most essential to the good soldier. 

In thus sending good men into the military service of the country, 
the town of West Hartford followed the example of the parish in 
earlier days. At the very beginning of the Revolution a company of 
soldiers marched from West Hartford. ]irobal)ly to Ticondcruga. Tiie 
death-record of the parish, kept by Dr. Perkins with remarkable accu- 
racy, mentions the decease of several men who died "at camp in 
New York." Out of the number which this parish with its limited 



422 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

population sent into the Revolutionary War, not less than twenty lost 
their lives in their country's service. 

In the "War of 1812 and the Mexican War this parish was also 
represented, and performed her part hoth in suffering and in the more 
conspicuous duty of the perilous hght. 

The town-hall is a large building situated on the most prominent 
site in the centre of the town. It was occupied by the Fii-st Church 
until 1882, when it became the property of the town. The corner on 
which it stands has been occupied by public buildings for a hundred 
and seventy years. Some dispute as to the true bounds of this lot of 
land has gone on for the past twenty-five years. The town, however, 
will control so much of the neighboring land as it may really need for 
public purposes, thus settling an old controversy. 

About seventy miles of highway are maintained at jiublic cost. 
Some years .¥10,000 have been expended for roads and bridges, but 
these items now require only •'ii'3,000 dollars from year to year. xVbout 
$4,000 are expended in sustaining the public schools. 

The bonded debt of the town is $60,000. funded in part at four 
per cent. The grand list is about two and a half millions of dollars, 
and the rate of taxation is eight mills. The population of the town, 
according to the census .of 1880, is 1,828, and the avei-age death-rate is 
less than two per cent of the population. A careful record of births, 
marriages, and deaths^was kept by the ministers of the parish for more 
than a century, and still exists. In the list of deaths it is especially 
accurate and minute, giving the cause of death with some particularity. 
It is often consulted by genealogists and physicians. 

The southern part of West Hartford includes a beautiful street 
arched with elms a hundred years old, which give the name of Elmwood 
to this section of the town. More than a hundred years ago a pottery was 
established here, which has lieen in the same family for three or four 
generations. About twelve years ago three young men, under the firm 
name of Goodwin Brothers, took a little shop in which to continue the 
business their ancestors had begun. Under their control the business 
has grown very rapidly. To-day their new main building, fully occu- 
pied, consists of three stories above the basement. The potter's wheel 
is turned by steam-power. Two large kilns ai'c constantly in use, and 
seventy-five hands scattered about over nearly an acre of floor-space 
do the work of the firm. While the old styles of pottery for house- 
hold and trade purposes are still made here, the bulk of the business 
is in decorated ware, which now has an extensive sale in the South 
and West, and a smaller but growing demand for exportation. Good- 
win Brothers have just completed a new building for an office, a neat 
brick structure well lighted, and adapted to the needs of the house. 
There are two creameries, one in the north and one in the south part 
of the town. The latter is largely supplied from the farm of Charles 
M. Beach. Mr. Beach was one of the first to introduce the Jersey 
stock into this country, and has one of the most valuable herds of pure- 
blooded stock in the State. 

The reservoirs which store the water-supply for the city of Hartford 
are on the heights lying in the western part of the town. The same 
springs sup])ly a stream which runs through the town and is ponded at 
different points for milling purposes and for a supply of ice of like 




y^y-^i 



■^ .i^^;^/^ 



WEST lIAUTKdIU). 



423 



quality witli tlie oily water. TIr' ciittiui^, lioiisiiiL', ami delivery <>!' lliis 
ice for the use of the city is a irrowinjr business. 

The product of which West llarllord is most proud is her ineti and 
women. Not le.ss than nineteen ministers, some of them famous men, 
were born in this town. Of these. i>r. Harry Croswell, the well-known 
E|iiscoi)al divine, has been mentioned. Joab IJraee. i >.!)., was for more 
than fifty years pastor in tlu' adjoining parisli of Xewington. His 
daughter married the Rev. John Todd, long the eminent pastor of the 
church in Pittsfield, Mass. The ceremony was in the meeting-house, 
on Sunday, and was followed by a seiinon from the father of tiic bride, 
who " improved the occasion "" by discoursing to tiie happy pair from 
the text, "In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in 
marriage." 

Many famous men in other walk.s of life had their beginning here. 
The most eminent of tliese names is that of Xoah Webster, known 
wherever the Kuglish language is spoken. The liouse in which he was 
born is still standing about a mile south of the centre of the town, and 




THE NOAH WEBSTER HOUSE. 



his parents arc both buried in the old cemetery a few rods north of the 
church. He was a ])upil of Dr. Perkins, and it was perhaps frc)m him 
that he imbilied those ideas which led him while a very young man to 
publish a pamphlet on the " EtYects of ."Slavery on Morals and Industry." 
The story of Dr. Webster's life is told in the memoir by his son-in- 
law. Dr. (Joodrich. in the Unabridged Dictionary. His work is weighed 
more fully in the i)iograi)hy lately prejjarcd by Horace E. ."^cudder. 

William Eaxon, Assistant ."Secretary of the Navy under President 
Lincoln, came from West Hartford stock. It was one of his ancestors 
who introiluced into the iiarisii the first four wheeled-vehicle ever seen 
there. He drove to church therein with his family. The people, tilled 



424 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

with wonder, surrounded the cart. Not a few entered the meeting- 
house late. The next day a committee waited upon Captain Faxon and 
informed him that no such Sabbath-brealving contrivance would Ije 
allowed on the highway during holy time. The committee urged that 
its attractions were so novel the people could not be expected to avoid 
watching it to their spiritual hurt. The Captain pleaded the needs of 
his family, for whom he bought the vehicle that they might all attend 
the worship of God's house. He was finally allowed to taice his family 
to church in the new-fashioned carriage, if he would jiromise " to drive 
very slow." 

One of the most eminent citizens of West Hartford was the late 
Charles Boswell. He was born in Norwich in 1802, and soon after he 
was twelve years old began his business career with the late Governor 
Buckingham as his fellow-clerk. When sixteen years old he removed 
to Hartford, and from that time to his death was identified with the 
growth and ])rogress of that city. He began business for himself, 
before he was twenty-five, as a wholesale grocer, and there laid the 
foundation of his fortune. Later he became president of the Farmers' 
and Mechanics' Bank. With this organization and the Hartford Fire 
Insurance Company he was connected for more than forty years. He 
was one of the founders of the Athenamm, and a supporter of all local 
charities. He removed to West Hartford in 1861. Here began his 
larger benevolence to Western colleges, which occupied much of liis 
thought for the last ten years of his life. He represented his town in the 
legislature several terms, and was universally honored by liis fellow- 
citizens. He was a member of the Rev. Dr. Bushnell's church in Hart- 
ford, and when the old North Church property was sold he purchased 
the communion-table and presented it to the chiu'ch in West Hartford. 
It is a massive marble slab, now framed in oak, and used in the West 
Hartford church, which Mr. Boswell assisted most liberally to build. 
He died in October, 1884. 

Many other men eminent in business and financial circles might be 
mentioned who were cither born in the parish or came from West Hart- 
ford stock ; but the list would be too long. It is enough to say that the 
influence of this community has gone abroad tln-ough all our country, 
and the sons and daughters of West Hartford have reflected honor upon 
their native town. The quiet of the town, its proximity to a delightful 
city, its attractive drives, well-kept farms, beautiful scenery, orderly, 
intelligent, and law-abiding citizens, make it an attractive place of 
residence. Church and school arc both well maintained, and the public 
health is almost unprecedentedly good. Indeed, in all respects it still 
justifies the words of President Dwight, who visited it early in the 
century : " The parish of West Hartford, for the fertility of its soil, the 
pleasantness of its situation, the sobriety, industry, good order, and re- 
ligious deportment of its inhabitants, is not, so far as I know, excelled 
in the State." 




XXV. 
WETIIERSFIELD. 

BY SHERMAN W. ADAMS. 

THE townshi]) of Wothcrsfiold, tliiiin<r the period of its greatest 
extent (from 1(373 to IGl'S), iiiclmled tlie whole of the present 
township of tliat name, the present townships of Glastonbury, 
Rocky Hill, and Newington, a section of about three square miles of 
territory now in the northeast corner of Berlin, and about four square 
miles now in the north end of Marlborough. Its area at that time was, 
ill round numbers, eighty-four square miles exclusive of that portion 
under the river, — being something more than fourteen " large " miles 
long from east to west, and a little over six "large" miles broad 
from north to south. This great tract is to-day bounded northerly by 
West Hartford, Hartford, East Hartford, and Manchester ; easterly 
by Bolton, Hebron, and Marll)orough ; southerly l)y Marlborough, 
Chatham, Portland, Cromwell, and Berlin; westerly by Berlin and 
New Britain. 

The original ''plantation" of Wcthersfield was not definitely fixed. 
It was that small section known to the Indian's as Py(|uaug, Pyquag, 
Faquiaug. or (as in tlie sachem's deed to Wcthersfield men in 1G71) 
Puckquiog. Dr. .1. H. Trumbull tells us that this name (eonqiounded 
of jxuKpd and «»/{■(•) means "clear land," "open country." It was 
the area now occupied by the village, together with the Great Meadow, 
and the Great and Little plains. The " clear land " to which, prob- 
ably, the i)lace owed its aboriginal name was the two plains mentioned 
above, witii the present site of the village ; which, topographically speak- 
ing, is on an extension of the same |ilains. As thus limited, Pyquaug was 
bounded northerly mainly by a bend (now no longer existing at that 
point) in Connecticut Uiver, seftarating it from Suckiaug (Hartford), 
easterly by the same river, southerly by Beaver (GotVe's) Brook or lands 
in that vicinity, and westerly Ijy the ridge along the summit of wiiich 
the road on Woleott Hill extends. It embraced a part of Hoccanum, 
which lay on both sides of the river. So it remained a rudimentary 
hamlet, or " plantation," until June 7, 1630, when the General Court, 
wliich had organizetl in April of that year, took the first step toward 
defining its limits and making it a townshi)). It thou directed .<amuel 
Wakeman, of Durchester (Windsor), and (Jcorgi' Ihibliard, of Water- 
town (Wetherslield), to survey Dorchester, and Wakeman alone to 
survey Watertown, as to its " breadtii towards the mouth of the River," 
to the end that " it may be confirmed." 

On the 21st day of the following February the General Court 
christened the settlement " Wythersfeild." At the same date Wake- 
man and Ancient (Thoma.;) .'^toughton reported, recommending that 



426 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

the bounds be " extended towards the River's mouth, in the same 
side it standes in, to a tree sixe miles downeward from tlie boundes 
between tliem and Hartford, marked with N: F: [the initials of 
Nathaniel Foote's name], and to runn in an east and west line, and over 
the Great River ; the said Wythersfeild to begin att the mouth of Pew 
ter Pott brooke, and there to runn due east, into the country, 3 miles, 
and downeward sixe miles in breadth." This report was adopted. The 
north Ihio was still further defined to be " att a tree marked N : F : and 
to w'''' the Pale of the saide Harteford is fixed, to goe into the countrey 
due east, and on the other side of the Greate River from Pewter Pott 
bi'ooke, at the lower side of Hocannom, due east, into the countrey." 

It will be observed that this desci'iption does not define the western 
limits of the plantation ; but we have evidence that these were stated 
in the original purchase from the Indians, which seems to have been 
made orally, and without any instrument in writing. For on the 16th of 
June, 1G65, an affidavit was made by George Hubbard, one of the survey- 
ors above mentioned, that "Upon his certainc knowledge, by the advice 
of the Court, Wethersfield men gave so mucli unto Sowheag as was to 
his sattisfaction for all their plantations, lyeing on both sides of the 
Great River, w* the Islands, viz. : six miles in bredth on both sides the 
River, and six miles deep from the River westward, and three miles 
deep from the River eastward." 

The General Court, Dec. 1, 1645, in fixing the eastern bounds of 
Tunxis (Farmington), provided that they should adjoin the western 
bounds of the river plantations, " which are to be five miles on this side 
the Great River." This was inconsistent with the earlier understand- 
ing, that the western bounds should be six miles west of the river ; but 
all parties concerned thereafter treated the earlier as the correct and 
actual limits. 

The township was now bounded by Hartford, north ; the " wilder- 
ness " three miles east of the river, east ; Mattabesett, afterward 
Middletown, south ; and Tunxis, thereafter to be known as Farm- 
ington, west. The territory embraced, including the river, about 
fifty-eight square miles. The first enlargement of the township, or 
indeed change of any kind as to area, was made by the General Court 
in May, 1670, when a strip twenty rods wide was added to the eastern 
frontier, to compensate for a highway of six rods wide ordered to 
be laid out where the main thoroughfare through the length of 
Glastonbury now is. 

It has already been mentioned that no deed was preserved of the 
original jnirchase from Sowheag, or, as the General Court sometimes 
called him. Sequin. To complete the record-title, Sowheag having 
died in the mean time, Wethersfield obtained, Dec. 1, 1671, a deed of 
confirmation for the township. We may remark that the first deed, 
or treaty, seems to have been prepared by William Goodwin, of Hart- 
ford, in 1639 ; at least he was " desired " by the General Court in April 
of that year to " finish the treaty of the towne of Wethersfield with 
Seqiiin, concerning the land hcyond the River." 

The new treaty recites the fact of a former grant from Sowheag, 
" Sachem, or cheife Governor of the Indians the natives and former 
inhabitants of Puckquiog, now called Wethersfield." It says that it 
was for a good and valuable consideration, or sum of money, paid to 



WETHERSFIELD. 427 

Sowhcag; that it was made to " the English ; " that the bounds included 
all the lands in Wethersficld limits : — 

" Six inillcs in leanth liy tho CJroat River side, on the west side of tlio Great 
Eiver which is called Conecticot Iviver, from the tree marked X. F., the boun- 
dary tree botwene Wcathersfield and Hartford, north ; to the tree \V. M., soe 
markeil, tho boundary tree betwene Weatherefield and Jliddletowne, south ; the 
Great IJiver, cast ; and tho whollo length to runn six largo milles into tho Wil- 
derness, west, in bredth, where Woathersficld and Farmingtowno bounds mett ; 
and six milles in length by the Kiver side, on the east side of the said Conecticot 
Eivor, from Pewter Pot brook north, to the bounds betweuc Wethcrsfield and 
Middletown soutli ; the said Great Eiver west ; the whollo leautli to run three 
largo milles into tho Wilderness." ' 

In this confirmatory deed a " gratuity," being " twelve yards of 
trading-cloth," is given to the grantors. The names of the grantors 
are: Turramuggus (son of Sowhcag?), Scpannaniaw ("squaw," daugh- 
ter of Sowhcag), Spuno (or Si)cunno), Nobawhee (or Nabowhee), 
Wecsunip-shto, and Wajjlianke, " heirs and successors of Sowiicag." 
Turramuggus was probably at this time the head of the Wongunks, 
some of whom were living at Mattabesett, and a few in the south part 
of Wethersficld, but mostly in what is now Chatham and South Glas- 
tonbury. His name was sometimes written Caturmuggus in the AVeth- 
er.sficld records. The Indian name of Marlborough is also said to 
have l)ecn Turramuggus. In a deed of four hundred acres of land, 
lying in what is now Eastbury, to Samuel l>oardman and Thomas 
Edwards, in Fel)ruary, 1(573, Turramuggus is called the sachem. The 
deed is also signed by Koseso (his '• squaw"), Wecsum]ishi, Nobl)wit, 
Monogin, and Keecommush (males) ; by Turramuggus's daughter 
(name not given) ; and liy Keccommush's squaw, whose name is not 
given.2 

In October, 1672, an addition of some thirty square miles was 
made, by authority of the General Court, by extension of the town 
limits live miles farther eastward. This was taken out of wild lands 
of the colony. On the 10th of October, 1673. Wethcrsliehl voted 
that the tract in question '-shall hv purchased of the Indians, tor the 
use of the inhabitants of said town," and their heirs. The amount of 
the consideration is not stated in the deed, and the writer has found no 
mention of the sum anywhere. But an addition which he has made of 
the ta.xes laid, in order to pay for it (the individual tax l)eing torn off 
and lost in a few instances), shows it to have been very nearly, if not 
exactly, twenty-four ]>ounds in money. The signers of the deed were 
Tarramuggns, Jlasct'up, Wesunqishye, One I'eny (Wunqiene ?), Xc- 
saheeg, Scocutt, and IVwanqiskin ; assuming the orthography of these 
names to be as in the recorded copy. 

On the 17th of Feliruary, 1685-6, a patent for all the territory 
then end)raced in Wethersficld was granted by the " Governor (Robert 
Treat) and Conq)any " to "Captain Samuel Wolcott, Captain .lolm 
Chester, Lieutenant James Treat, 5Ir. Samuel Wolcott, Mr. John Dcm- 
ing. Sr., Mr. Uobert Welles, Jlr. John Rolibins, Mr. John HoUist^r, 
and Richard Smith," and to " the rest of the said present jiroprictors 
of the towncship of Wethersficld," and their heirs. 

' Wctbirstield Land liicords, vol. ii. p. 202. » Ibid., pp. 202, 252. 



428 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

In October, 1693, Wethersfield's territory was reduced considerably 
more than one half, all on the east side of the river — more than fifty 
square miles — being taken to make the new township of Glastonbury. 
By the completion of its first meeting-house, in the month above 
stated, that section became entitled to its separate political existence ; 
and thereby was formed the first town in the colony made by division 
of another town. By this apportionment of territory the Island, which 
probably contained about two hundred acres, seems to have been con- 
ceded to Wcthersfield by mutual consent; for its owners, both before 
and after the setting off of Glastonbury, were placed in the tax-lists as 
land-owners on the tvest side of the river. Thus matters remained 
until 1767, when the river had so far deviated from its ancient course 
that Glastonbury's area had been very much augmented, at the expense 
of Wcthersfield. In these circumstances the latter town, through 
Colonel John Chester, ]ietitioned the General Assembly to readjust its 
east line. That body, in 1770, by a committee, after re-establishing 
that part of the north line between tlic N. F. tree and the ancient 
moutli of PcAvter Pot Brook by monuments of stone, fixed tlie new 
east line as follows : " A line drawn from the ancient Pewter Pot 
brook's mouth, running S. 19° E., to the north end of a fence called 
Josiah Benton's fence, on Wright's Island ; being near the middle of 
the bed where the River formerly run ; and thence S. 1° W., to the 
Great River, at the south end of said Island ; and the said River to 
be the S. bounds of Wcthersfield, which line, from said Pewter Pot 
brook's mouth to the south end of said Island, crosseth the Great 
River aforesaid twice ; and keeps in the bed of said River as the same 
ran." 

In 1792 James Wright's portion of Wright's Island tract — much 
the larger part of the whole — was annexed to Glastonbury. It was 
on the then east side of the river. 

Wethersfield's area was next diminished in May, 1785, by the 
formation of the township of Berlin. To this member of the sister- 
hood of towns, formed from Farmington, Middletown, and Wcthers- 
field, the latter contributed a nearly square section out of its southwest 
corner, containing about three square miles. 

By the formation of Rocky Hill townshiji in 1 843, some twelve or 
thirteen square miles of land were taken from Wcthersfield. This was 
a section across the south end, and constituted mainly of the old par- 
ish of Stepney. In 1870 the river, as between Glastonbury and Wcth- 
ersfield, was by the legislature made the boundary line. 

One more township, the outgrowth of old Wethersficld, remains to 
be recorded. This was by the incorporation of Newington in 1871 and 
1872. By this legislation something more, probably, than twelve 
square miles of land were taken off from the west side of tlie mother 
township. 

There yet remains in Wcthersfield a tract, triangular in shape, of 
about one hundred and twenty acres, on the east side of the river. 
This is bounded by the river west. East Hartford northeast, and 
Glastonbury south. 

There has never been a topographical survey of the township wor- 
thy of the name ; and the writer dares not undertake to give positive 



"WETnERSFIELD. 429 

information under tiiis iiciul, oxcoptinij; upon a few points and in a gen- 
eral way. It is ivnown that wiien tiie settlement of the township was 
bejrnn, the river lirst entered its northern border some forty or fifty 
rods east of the main road i)etween Hartford and Wetht-rsiield ; thence 
it Howed st)utherly until it reached the l)anl< or lilull whereon the State 
prison now stands. Thence it curved (piite sharply to the northeast; 
and on the south shore of this liend were the public hindinirs, the Com- 
mon bciui;^ adjacent thereto. Continuing in a northeasterly course, the 
river recrosscd the north line at a point not far from two hundred 
rods cast of the main road in (piestion. This reach in the river was 
sometimes called the Harbor. A few rods north of the jurisdiction 
line the river made another turn, until it for the third time crossed the 
town line, flowing nearly south. The bend formed Ijy this turn was 
sometimes called the (Julf. This crossing was not tar from a mile 
and a half cast of said main road, and the land on both sides the river 
at this point was known to the aborigines as Hoccauum. Thence the 
river flowed nearly due south, .something more than a mile probably, 
when the stream divided very nearly eiiually^ forming the island called by 
tlie Indians Mauhaunock, of about two hundred acres, with the channel 
navigable on each side of it. Thus it passed Xaubuck, received the 
contributions of Roaring Brook, — the latter fed by Sturgeon Brook, 
— and ]iassed Nayaug (South Glastonbury) on its left, and Rocky Hill 
on its riglit, — substantially as at present, but a few rods more to the 
west in the bend above Rocky Hill Ferry than now. 

What caused the great changes (apparent at a glance upon the map) 
which have been wrought in the river's course since then it is not 
easy to say. At the turn mentioned as being in the vicinity of the 
present site of the prison, the stream encountered the bed of red sand- 
stone shale underlying the mellow soil there, and now known as The 
Rocks ; and this obstruction was potent to hiudi'r it from cutting 
across southeasterly. The other bends have simply " worked down 
stream," as is the rule in soft alluvium. 

But whatever the cause, the fact is that the Cove in Wethersfield 
occupies one portion of the old river-l)ed ; Kcney's Cove, in Glaston- 
bury, occupies another portion of the same bed ; Pewter Pot Brook 
flows into Keney's Cove, and not into the river, as formerly ; the Island 
has disa])peared ; Sturgeon Brook flows tlirectly into tlie river, and no 
longer into Roaring Brook. Mort' than this; an island of aliout nine 
acres, at Penny wise, — crossed Ijy the north line of the town, and once 
known as Long, Cole's, or Standish's Island, — is now a knoll in Hart- 
ford south meatlow. 

The principal watercourse west of the river was that known as 
Piper's River, — being the south branch of Hartford's present Park 
River, — whoso water-shed includes a considerable part of the site of 
the city of New Britain. Goffe's (sometimes called Beaver and Mill) 
Brook, was mainly a surface-water stream, having its principal source 
iu neming's meadows. Tributary to this are Collier Brook, — whose 
water-shed is mostly Hog meadows, — a stream (nameless to the writer) 
joining (Joffe's Brook from the south a few rods west of Goffe's 
Bridge, and Tando's Brook, formerly known as Beaver and later 
as Wadham's Brook. This latter has much less volume than for- 
merly, when what is now known as Folly Brook flowed through it. 



430 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

The Folly was formed in 1726, by making a cut-off to intercept the 
outflow of a great basin sometimes called the Great Swamp. This 
basin extends from above Park Street, in Hartford, on the north, to 
the Collier Road (north of Griswoldville), in Wethersfield, on the south. 
The cut-off was but a few rods in length, and conveyed the water across 
the main road between the two towns into the Cove ; the little channel 
in time became a ravine, requiring an expensive bridge to cross it, — 
hence the name Folly. But in reality its value as a great drainer of 
lands far exceeds the additional cost of bridges on its account. 

The Mattabesett traversed the southwest corner of the old town- 
ship, and turned the mills at Beckley Quarter ; but this part of that 
stream, with its fertile meadows, is now in Berlin. The list of water- 
courses on the west side of the river closes with Hog Brook, a few rods 
below Rocky Hill landing, and Dividend Brook, which drove the Rev. 
Gershom Bulkelcy's " corne mill," — the last-named stream entering 
the river a few rods north of the boundary line between Rocky Hill and 
Cromwell. 

No measurements of altitudes of ridges or peaks are known to have 
been taken. In the old township the highest points were on the east 
side of the river. On the west side the supremacy lies between the 
summit, in the rear of Shipman's hotel. Rocky Hill, and Cedar Hill, 
or Mountain, as it is sometimes called. Both these eminences are of 
trap-rock formation, and probably neither is over three hundred feet 
high. 

The ridge which includes Cedar Hill is close to the dividing line 
between Wethersfield and Newington. About a mile and a half east 
of this is a lower ridge of trap-rock, known as the Nott's Hill ridge. 
This is a continuation, southerly, of the ridge at Hartford Rocky 
Hill, whence Hartford obtains its supply of stone for macadamizing 
its streets. The western slope of this, like that of Cedar Hill, is precipi- 
tous, and strewn with loose fragments of the rock of which it is com- 
posed. This ridge offers an instance of rock of igneous origin overlying 
stratified rock of more recent formation. 

At the southeast shore of the Cove the red sandstone shale crops 
out, forming The Rocks at that point. Here is a good field for the 
study of ichuology. It has been explored by some geologists, — notably 
the two Hitchcocks, father and son, — and primeval footprints taken 
thence enrich the cabinets of Amherst and perhaps other colleges. 

Among the specimens of rocks collected by Professor Shepard, in 
1887, in Wethersfield, the following may be mentioned : mica-slate, 
red-marl slate, bituminous slate, greenstone trap, and datholite. The 
list might be extended, were the recent rock-cuttings for railways to 
be examined. 

Want of space prevents any account of zoological and botanical fea- 
tures. Few of the native mammals remain. The raccoon has prob- 
ably become extinct within the last ten years. During that period one 
has been found on Cedar Mountain. On the other hand, the woodchuck 
seems to be more common than ever before. It is probably fifty years 
since the otter became extinct here. Until within the last three or four 
years there has existed an extensive heronry, or colony of night-herons 
(^Nyctiardea^, believed to be the only one in the State. But the 
cutting away of the trees of Fearful Swamp has made such havoc 



WETHERSFIELD. 431 

with their abodes, that now no trace of these showy birds remains 
excejjtinu: tiie ruins of their abandoned nests. 

Wethcrsfield has become ahnost denuded of its old forests. There is 
evidence, indeed, that some species iiad become extinct before tiic settle- 
ment of the town. Trunks and roots of what appear to have been tiie 
white cedar ^C'uprcHms thyoideis) worlc upward tiirough tiie soil of the 
swalc along the east side of the plain east of Broad Street ; l)ut it is 
not ivuown that this tree has existed here since the advent of white 
people, and these relics appear to have been submerged for ages. The 
moon-weed, or thorn-ap])le {Datura Stramonium), which is now quite 
rarely found, was in 1724 so common as to be a nuisance ; and a by- 
law of the town was then passed requiring its annual destruction for 
the term of four years then next ensuing. 

Wiien the original settlers of Wcthersficld arrived, not only Pyquaug, 
but a very much larger section, which included it, was under the 
dominion of Sowhcag. He has been called the sachem, or chief, of the 
Wongiinks. This tribe was in possession of a domain whose bounds 
were not precisely defined. The " Wongum " region included a con- 
siderable part of wiiat is now Chatham and South Glastonbury, taking 
its name from the great bend in liie river at Middletown. But mem- 
bers of the tril)e in question inhabited the Mattabesett region, which 
included the southwestern part of Wethcrsfield ; and there seems to 
have been a sub-tribe, or clan, known as the Mattabcsetts. 

It has been assumed, perhaps correctly, that Sowheag was living at 
Pyquaug wiien the white settlers first planted it. De Forest, in his 
" History of the Indians of Connecticut," assumes this from an expres- 
sion of the General Court, in April, 1G38, which mentions '•• Sohcage, 
an Indian, the saciiem of Pyquaagg;" but it is not certain that this 
reference is to liis place of residence at all. He was sachem of Matta- 
besett at tlie same time. Tlie writer's belief is tiiat Sowheag lived not 
at Pyquaug, but in that section of Mattabesett then within Wethcrsfield 
limits ; to wit, in or near what is now Beckley Quarter, in the great 
curve of the Mattabesett River. A tract of three hundred acres at this 
point was bought by Sergeant Richard Beckley from Turramuggus 
(successor of Sowheag) in 1670 ; and this is tiie only instance, so far 
as tiie writer knows, where land witliin Wethcrsfield bounds, and on the 
west side of the river, was sold iiy Indians to an individual. Tiiere is 
a plain of several sijuaro miles in area lying partly in Rocky Hill and 
|)artly in Cromwell (formerly Wethcrsfield and Middletown), known 
as Bisho])'s Plain. In old records of lands it was usually called 
Bcset's Plain ; and in one instance which the writer has seen it was 
called Amobcset, a name still remeinliered in that vicinity. It may 
lie that here, or on the Beckley ])urchase above mentioned, was the 
part of tiie townsliip reserved for tlie Indians in the original agreement 
of the planters with Sowheag ; and it may be remarked that this 
ruler, who is sometimes called Sequin, is, wherever his title is given, 
called " Sachem of Mattabeseck." It was at " Mattabescck," said the 
General Court in August, 1630, tliat he harI)ored the " guilty persons," 
members of his tribe, and called down upon him the wrath of that 
body. But that Indians either dwelt at or frequented Pyquaug is equally 
evident. Their remains lia.e sometimes been found mi the plot whicli 



432 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

the settlers selected for their burying-ground. Their implements of 
stone are often turned up by the plough. In the south part of Weth- 
ersfield, in the vicinity of the grist-mill, many arrow-heads of flint are 
found, and some of quartz. They are of at least half a dozen different 
patterns. Hatchets or tomahawks of greenstone trap are not rare 
among the relics of the stone age of this vicinity. Sowheag's demise 
was prior to 1664 ; probably some years before. His successor seems 
to have been Turramuggus ; but he left othei- children, among whom 
was Sepanamaw (" squaw ") ; and in the deed of 1671 to Wethersfield, 
Speunno, Nabowhee, Weesumpshie, and Waplianke are called his 
" heirs." A sister of his was mother of Mantowese, and it was in her 
right that the latter, in 1638, conveyed a part of the Quinnipiac region 
^____^__ to New Haven settlers. The mark of Turramug- ^ 
\j gus was a hatchet ; that of Mantowese was a drawn /^^ 

bow and arrow. This was also the mark of Tur- V^ 
ramuggus in at least one instance. 

From such sources as are at present accessible we may infer that 
Sowheag, as early as 1638, was living at Mattabesett, — perhaps in the 
Wethersfield section traversed by that river ; that he at last lived at 
Newfield, in Middletown, where he died before 1664 ; that his succes- 
sor was Turramuggus, who died before 1705, on the reservation in 
Middletown ; that most of the Wongunks withdrew to the reserva- 
tion in Wongum (now in Chatham) of three hundred acres, set 
apart for the heirs of Sowheag in 1673 ; and that the remnant of 
the tribe became extinct soon after 1774, the number of survivors at 
Wongum being then less than forty. 

Turramuggus was succeeded by his son, Peetoosoh, who was sa- 
chem in December, 1706, and then living at Wongum. When he 
died is not known, nor whether he left lineal descendants. His 
successor and the last of the dynasty was Cushoy, who died before 
1765 ; at which time his widow, Tike-, was still living, but aged and 
feeble. » 

In January, 1672-3, and in February of the same year two deeds 
were executed by Turramuggus and his kinsmen, of four hundred acres 
of land " neer or in Ashowaset, or Paquanauge, or Mawnantuck," now 
Eastbury, to Samuel Boardman and Thomas Edwards, jointly, both of 
Wethersfield. This, it is believed, completes the list of lands in ancient 
Wetliersfield purchased directly from the Indians ; though perha]« 
Rechaun's grant to Robert Boltwood of lands near Nipsic Pond in 1665 
slioukl be included. 

In January, 1658-9, there was living at Wethersfield one Seanan, 
a sachem, " kinsman of Uncas, the sachem of the Mohicans." Such 
he calls himself, or is called, in a deed of his interest in Nequiauke 
(in East Haddam) to Richard Lord. The record shows that "Jowsuah, 
Seanah's daughter," was a witness to the deed of Turramuggus and 
others to Wethersfield people in December, 1671. It is probable 
that Seanah and Seanan are variations of the name of the same 
person. The writer's belief is that Seanan lived at Nayaug, now 
South Glastonbui'y. Wlien Glastonbury became a township, in 1693, it 
is probable that that section contained nearly all the Indians remaining 
in Wethersfield. Indeed, there probably had been an influx of eastern 
Indians into that region after the Narragansett campaign of 1676. In 



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WETHER8FIELD. 433 

the montli of Fcbniarv, 1(>76, Mr. John IIollisUT, sou of Lieutenant 
Jolin,tlK'u ilcceased, iuviteil the Wt>ugiiin Indians to assist liini in build- 
ing a " fort"' at Nayang, wlicro lie was then living; and it is supposed 
that they, being in fear of the Narragansetts, aidi-d in the construction 
of a defensive work on Red Ilill, and this became the seat of what 
■were thereafter called the Red Hill Indians. 

Aboriginal names of places, especially on the east side of the river, 
are still preserved in sullicicnt numbers to serve as menu-ntos of the 
Red men. Some of these names are herewith given, with the siguilica- 
tious of such of them as have been defined by Dr. J. 11. Trumbull in 
his " Indian Names in t'onuccticut." On the west side were Fi/quuuy 
(Pauqui-aukc), "clear land;" MaUaheiset (Massabeset), partly in 
Wetherslield, "great brook;" Amobeset, not defined; Hoccanum (on 
both sides of the river), "a hook;" Manhannock (in the river), 
" Island place." On the east side were Nauhuc (JVabttrk in Samuel 
Gardner's deed of October, 1G67, the earliest date 1 find it mentioned), 
" flooded lauds ;" Nayaug (sometimes written JVoyake), the'- point," or 
" corner ;" Wasttm; (Assawassuc, Ashowaset), '• between the brooks;" 
iVyjsiV (Xipsuc), the "pool place:" J/mrtt'f/iaM//, " huckleberry hill;" 
Wongum (Wongunk), partly in Wethers field, at the "bend;" Seaiir 
kuiii (part only), not defined ; Jleshomasic (sometimes So7ner8ic), not 
defined; Kongscut (corrupted to Skunkscut),''^ at the hill;" Pontoo- 
8UC, the "falls on the brook;" Sechenayaug, not defined; Pegamic, 
or PuhegansKc, not defined ; Mahautauantuckmck, " outlet," etc. (of a 
pond ; Amnnnantovkxuck, the " lookout " place, at the " l)rook " 
(Roaring Brook ?) ; Mawnantuck, the " lookout " place. To these, 
the writer suggests the following additions : Poke Hill, at the trolly 
Bridge ; pokf being perhaps a corruption of pauqui, as in the name 
Poquonnoc, meaning " bare," or " clear." The name " Poke Hill " 
dates back to the first settlement of the town. Pewter Pot (brook), 
probably a corruption ui Pootapmig ov Pautipaug ; a name which in 
some ])laces has been applied to a section of " boggy meadow " land, 
and which correctly describes a part of the region traversed by this 
stream. 

The limited space remaining under this head shall be devoted to a 
brief account of certain tragical events in which the savages were 
actors. Prot)ably the first white person of Connecticut slain by the 
Indians, after those killed at Saybrook in February, 103(3, was Mr. 
John Oldham, whom Dr. Bond (in his history of AVatertown, Mass..) 
sujiposed, and. we think, correctly, to have been the first .vttler of 
Wethersfifld. He was master of a " shallop," and whilst jiassing with 
it along the coast, he was set upon by fourteen Indians of the Xarra- 
gansett tribe, but belonging to the Manisee, or Block Island branch 
thereof. He was murdered, and his body mutilated. His crew, con- 
sisting of two boys (white) antl two Indians, were made prisoners. 
This happened July 20. 1036. How well Oldham's death was avenged 
by Gallup is known to most readers. 

We are next to record a very serious calamity, which led to the col- 
ony's most effectual cam])aign against the Pecpiots. Sometime in April, 
1687, a party of Pequots ((.'aptain Underhill, in his " News from 
America," says there were two hundred of them) fell ujion the i)lanters 
in the Great Meadow, and i>ut to ileath six nu'u and thn'C women. 

\0U U. — 28. 



434 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Winthrop's statement is probably the most reliable version of the 
affair. He says, under date of May 12, 1637 : " We received a letter 
from him [Mr. Haynes] and others, being then at Saybrook, that the 
Pekods had been up the River at Weatherslield, and had killed six 
men, being at their work, and twenty cows and a mare ; and had 
killed tln-ee women, and carried away two maids." Vincent says, the 
number of slain was nine, one of whom was a woman and one a 
child. 

This deplorable deed was enacted near the west bank of the river, 
and opposite to the Island, or so near thereto that it was witnessed by 
Wattoone, and other Indians, from that point. Sowheag was then 
hostile to the Wethersfield people, and had withdrawn to Mattabesett 
or its vicinity ; and this led the inhabitants to suspect him of having 
incited the Pequots to their work ; Init the proof is wanting that he 
had any part in the matter. In October, 1639, Lieutenant Eobert 
Seeley, who had formerly lived at Wethersfield, but was now the 
" Marshal " at Quinnipiac, arrested Messutunk. alias Nepaupuck, a 
Pequot, as one of the murderers. Upon the testimony of Mewhcbato, 
"a Quillipiack Indian, kinsman to Nepaupuck," and that of Wattoone, 
a " Sonne of Carrahoode, a councellor to the Quillipiacke Sagamour," 
the prisoner, in a trial had at New Haven, was found guilty of the 
mixrder of Abraham Finch, one of those slain at Wethersfield. Wat- 
toone testified that he saw the murder done, from the Island, and that 
Nepaupuck captured one of the two girls taken. In accordance with 
the sentence of the Court, Nepaupuck's " head was cut of the next day 
and pittched xipon a pole in the Markett place," at New Haven. Many 
years afterward, in January, 1671-2, Mow-ween, an Indian at Stoning- 
ton, accused Odoqueninomon of having killed one of " three mayds " 
that were captured. No arrest appears to have followed upon this 
information. 1 

Excepting Abraham Finch, the names of the slain can be conjec- 
tured only. Finch was possessed of a homestead on the east side of 
Broad Street, near the north end. He left an aged father and a family 
of children. Thomas Adams disa])peared from Wethersfield about this 
time, and no trace is found of him afterward. The widow Joyce Ward 
died in 1640. Her former husband, Stephen Ward, may have been 
another of the victims. The two girls taken were daughters of Wil- 
liam Swayne, Gentleman. He lived on the northwest corner of High 
Street and Fort (now Prison) Street. The oldest of the girls was about 
sixteen years of age. They were transported by canoe to Pequot, now 
New London, where they were rescued by the master of a Dutch vessel. 
They had been kindly cared for by the squaw of Mononotto, the sachem 
next in rank to Sassacus. At Saybrook they were received from the 
Dutch l^y Lieutenant Lyon Gardner, then in command there, at a cost, 
to him, of ten pounds. Concerning their redem])tion lie writes, June 12, 
1660 : " I am yet to have thanks for my care and charge about them." 
It is not true, as some writers have supposed, that John Finch was one 
of the settlers killed. He lived to remove to Stamford with his brother 
Daniel. 

In the subsequent expedition to the Pequot country Wethersfield 

' State archives, Ci'iines & Misdemeanors, vol. i. p. 53. 



WETIIERSFIELD. 435 

contributed both men ami means. Her qiKjta' was twenty-six men. 
Anionsr these the writer believes the foUowinir may be named. Lieu- 
tenant Robert Seeley, who lived on the southeast eorniT of Broad 
Street and Plain Lane, was second in the eonunand. With him were 
probably Georire Chappel, the oldest of tiie two (not related) |)erson8 
bearins that name; John ("larke, William ("omstock, William Cross, 
Ensifin William (Joodrieh, Sanuicl Hale, Thomas Hale, Thomas Hurl- 
but (but iierha]is he had not eome up from Sayljrook ), .Jeremy Jajiger, 
Serjreant .lohii Xott, William Palmer, Roliert (or Thomas) Parke, John 
Plumb, Robert Rose, Sauuiel Sherman, Samuel Smith, Thomas Stan- 
dish, Thomas Tracy (afterward Lieutenant), and Jacob \Vaterhouse. 
Some of them, however, are known to have partiei])ated therein, and to 
have been rewarded with l)ounty lauds as a consequence. 

Our narrow limits forbid an account of the various defensive opera- 
tions in the town. They began with the construction of the " fort," 
sometime ]trior to 1G40 : located, as the writei- believes, near and east 
of the present site of the priscm. In March, UlT 5, a "palisado" was 
constructed around the village plot ; there being, as was supposed, 
imminent danger of attack from the adherents of Philip. In March, 
167<3, a committee was chosen to " fortify " certain houses in the vil- 
lage. In November, 1075, John Hollistcr, at Xayaug, was authorized 
to secure the aid of Wongum Indians to construct a fort " at Wonggum, 
or Xayag, as they shall agree." It is said that the fort was built on 
Red Hill. If so, it was not built until the folhjwing year. 

In June, 1T04, in conserpience of the hostility of Indians in central 
and eastern Massachusetts, Wethersfield proceeded to fortify the houses, 
si.\ in number, of the following named persons : Captain Rol)ert Welles, 
the Rev. Stephen Mix, David Wriglit, Sergeant John Latimer, Benjamin 
Crane's heirs, and Jonathan Deming. The details of the command of 
these several improvised " forts" are omitted here, for want of space. 

In Governor Winthrop's history of New England from 1630 to 
1649, commonly called Winthrop's Journal, the fact is recorded, under 
date of Sept. 4, 1633, that "John Oldham, and three with him, went 
overland to C(mnecticut, to trade. The sachem used them kindly, and 
gave them some i)eavcr. They brought of the hemp, wliich grows there 
in great abundance, and is much lietter than the English. He ac- 
counted it to i)e about one hundred and sixty miles." This was about 
a month previous to the sailinir of tlu' Plymouth ("ompany's itark, which 
carried Lieutenant Holmes and the frame of the trading-house, the lirst 
building set up in the township of Windsor. 

It is probable that Mr. Oldham, then of Watertown. was the first 
white man to visit that part of Connecticut River below the Massachu- 
setts .south line. And as lie, in the following year, began to occupy 
land at Pyi[uaug. it is reasonable to sujiiiose tliat that point was reached 
by him in li'i33. The "hem]i" which he found i^Aporjinum rannahi- 
?(»»() is common in the Connecticut valley tcMlay, under the name 
of Indian hemp: but the beaver is long since extinct in Connecticut. 

Historians have generally agreed that the date of Wethersfield's 

' For tlie first expedition Wcthersfiolil's quota was eighteen ; to the second (Jnne 2), six ; 
and to the third, two. It is not iniprotmble — hut the contmr)- — that those, or some of 
tliosc, «lio wore in the first (with Mason) were in the second and third. — T. 



436 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

first settlement was late in the summer, or early in tlie autumn, of 
1634. The pioneers came, so far as appears, without special authority, 
organization, or guarantee of protection. They were members of Sir 
Richard Saltonstall's company at Watertown, Mass., where a church 
had been organized in July, 1630, and were under the spiritual guid- 
ance there of the Rev. George Phillips. Oldham had been in America 
since 1623, — first at Plymouth, then at Nantasket, and finally at 
Watertown. We should say that in addition to Oldham, the few per- 
sons known in the Wethersfield records as the " Adventurers " (that is, 
occupants of land not deriving their title from the town) were, either 
in person or by representation, the settlers of 1634. Among these 
were the following, all from Watertown : — 

William Bassiim, or Barsham, of whom no further trace is found after the 
transfer of his rights, as an adventurer, to Lieutenant Eobert Seeley, who came 
to Wethersfield in 1635 or 1G.36. 

John Clarke, wlio removed to Quinnipiac prior to October, 1638, after selling 
his liomestead to John Eobbins, " gentleman." Neither Bond nor Savage, appar- 
ently, had traced Clarke from Watertown to AVethersfield ; but neither of them 
had seen the record evidence on tliis point which the writer has seen. Clarke 
became distinguished in colonial affairs. 

Abraham Fincli (in the records he is sometimes called " Old Finch "), an 
aged man, with three sons, Abraham, Daniel, and .John ; the former two having 
children. 

Sergeant John Strickland, who sold his liomestead to Governor George Wyllys, 
of Hartford, in March, 1640. Leaving a son, John, in Wethersfield, he is found 
four years later at Hempstead, Long Island, of which settlement he was one of 
tlie patentees. Both Bond and Savage were ignorant of the fact of Strickland's 
removal to Pyquaug. 

Robert Eose, who left Ipswich, England, in April, 1634, was one of the adven- 
turers of 1634, or of the year following. He brouglit with him his sons, John, 
Eobert, and Daniel. He removed to Totoket (Branford) in 1644; but his sons 
Eobert and Daniel remained in Wethersfield. 

Andrew Ward was an adventurer, at Wethersfield, certainly in 1635, perhaps 
in 1634. He was admitted a freeman of Watertown in May, 1634; but there 
are indications that some were so admitted there after their removal to Con- 
necticut. He removed to Eippowams (Stamford) in 1640, and is the ancestor 
of many distinguished Americans. 

William Swayne, " gentleman," held adventure-lands ; but the writer thinks he 
came to Wethersfield not earlier than 1636, and then took the lands of John 
Oldham, deceased. He removed to Branford in 1644. 

Leonard Chester was an adventurer of 1635, probably; tliough Dr. Bond 
intimates a belief that he left Watertown in 1634. He was an Esquire (some- 
times called armiger), and one of the youngest of the "gentlemen" of that 
day in New England. His son John was born Aug. 3, 1635 ; and if, as we 
believe to have been the case, he was a native of Wethersfield, he was the first 
white person born there. 

With Nathaniel Foote the list of known adventurers closes. Al- 
though he had the largest share of adventure-lands, his coming to 
Connecticut was not the earliest ; it having been, according to all indi- 
cations, in 1635. He was an elderly man, and among his posterity 
have been some of Connecticut's most distinguished sons. In 1635 
there was a considerable accession to the new settlement. Those 



WETIIERSFIELD. 



43: 



whose names are piven below also came from Watertown, a part arriv- 
ing in 1635, and others in the year following : — 



Robert AWiott. 
Caleb Bcnjiuuin. 
Robert liates. 
Roger Betls. 
Saniuol Clark. 
Robert Coc. 
Itev. Richard Denton. 
L(-'onard Dix. 



Lewis Jones. 
John Livermoro. 
Ell ward Mason. 
Hciiry ralmcr. 
Williani Palmer. 
Edward Pierce (1). 
John Pierce (i). 
Tluirston Raynor. 



William Swayne, Gentle- 
man. 

Edmund Sherman. 

Rev. John Sherman. 

Samuel Sherman (the two 
last being sons of Ed- 
niond). 

Samuel Smith. 

John Tliomson. 

Jonas Weede. 

Thoma.s Wliitmore. 



John Goodrich and Wil- John Reynolds, v^ 

Ham Goodrich, brothers. Robert Reynolds. 
George Hubbard. Lieutenant Robert Seeloy. 

Samuel Hubbard, son of George. 

The followinjr are the names of additional settlers, nearly all from 
places other than Watertown, some directly from England. Some 
came as early as 1635, but most of them between 1636 and 1640 ; none 
later than 1645 : — 

Thomas Adams. 

Richard \\A\fX\. 

Francis Hdl. 

Samuel Roardman. , 

James Bosey. 

Leslie Bradfield or Broad- 
field. 

John Brundish. 

Robert Burrows or Bur- 
roughs. 

John Cattel or Catlin. 

John Carrington. 

Clement ChapUn, nUing 
elder. 

George Chappell. 

George Cliappell, 2d. 

Josiah Churchill. 

James Cole, 2d. 

Thomas Coleman. 

William Comstock. 

William Cross. 

John Curtis. 

Thomas Curtis. 

John Doming. 
- Nathaniel Dickinson. 

.John Dickinson, son of 
Nathaniel. 

Daniel Doty. 

John EMwards. 

Thomas Edwards, son of 
John. 

Abraham Elsen. 

John El.'ti-n (brother of 
Abraham 1). 

John Evans or Evance, 
Gentleman. 



John Fletcher. 

Jcllrcy Ferris. 

Samuel (Jardnnr. 

John Gibb.^. 

Gregory Gibbs. 

Isaac Graves. 

John Grave.*. 

Natlianiel Gi-ave.s. 

Richard Gildersleve. 

Samuel Hale. 

Lieutenant .John HoUister. 

Walter Hoyt. 

Thomas Hurlbut. 

Samuel Ireland. 

Jeremy Jagger, sometimes 

Gager. 
John Jessup. 

Jordan. 

Joshua Jenning.s. 
Thomas Kilboum. • 
Sergeant John Kilboum, 

son of Thomas. 
John Litimer. 
Richard Law. 
John Lilley. 
-Vndrow Longdon. 
John Miller. 
Richard Miles or Mills. 
Matthew Mitchell. 
Nicholas Morecock. 
Thomas Morehouse. 
John Northern!. 
Francis Norton. 
Sergeant John Nott. 
Rol)ert Parke. 
Thomas Parke. 



Rev. Peter Prudden. 
Roger Pricbard, sometimes 

Prigiotte. 
Jasper Rawlins, Eawlings, 

or IJoUins. 
Sigesmond Richells. 
John Robbins, Gentleman. 
William Rogers. 
John I{oot. >^ 
John Saddler. 
Edward Scott, 
.lohn Seaman. 
Matthi.is Sension, St. .John. 
Thomas >Sherwood. 
Rev. Henry Smith. 
Samuel and Philip Smith, 

sons of the Rev. Henry. 
Thomas Standish. 
John Stoddard. 
(,"harles Taintor. 
Captain Samuel Talcott. 
William Taylor. 
Ca])tain .Jolm Tinker. 
Lieutenant Thomas Tracy. 
(Captain Thomas Topping, 

Toppin, or Tappan. 
Richard Treat. 
Lieut. Richaril Treat, Jr. 
Thomas T'lford. 
Edwanl Vere. 
Wani (not Andrew, 

which sec above). 
John Wanl, son of Andrew 1 
.Jacob Waterhouse. 
John Westell, sometimes 

Was toll. 



438 MEMOEIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Eichard Wescott. George Wolcott (perhaps Jonas Wood, 2d. 

Thomas Whitway. not till 1649). Thomas Wright. 

Ensign Hugh Welles. Edmond Wood. Francis Yates. 

Thomas Wicks, or Weeks. Jonas Wood, son of Ed- 
Matthew WilliarDS. mond. 

The foregoing lists, which are now prepared and published for 
the first time, are intended to include those onlj' who were heads of 
families. Watertown, Boston, Salem, Ph'mouth, Ipswich, Roxbury, 
Charlestown, and other Massachusetts settlements furnished pioneers, 
and some came directly from England, whilst two or three came from 
the Saybrook garrison. 

In 1638 and 1639 several Wethersfield people removed to Quinni- 
piac. Among these were Lieutenant Robert Seeley, John Evans, 
Gentlemen, Abraham Bell, John Clarke, John Gibbs, Richard Gilder- 
sieve, John Livermore, and Richard Miles or Mills. In 1639 We- 
powaug (later called Milford) was planted by a colony largely from 
Wethersfield, under the spiritual leadership of the Rev. Peter Prudden 
(of Wethersfield ?). The pioneers were John Fletcher, George Hubbard, 
Tliomas Uli'ord, Richard Miles, the Rev. John Sherman, Captain 
Thomas Topping, and Robert Treat, later governor. They were soon 
joined by Roger Prichard. Francis Norton, John Elsen, and Jonathan 
Law, afterward governor. Hubbard, who was a prominent surveyor, 
afterward went to Guilford. A still greater depletion was suffered by 
Wethersfield in 1640, when the following-named persons constituted 
the great bulk of the plantation then started at Rippowams, afterward 
Stamford : the Rev. Richard Denton, Robert Bates, Francis Bell, Samuel 
Clark, Robert Coe, Richard Crabbe, Jeffrey Ferris, Daniel Finch, John 
Finch, Richard Gildersleve, Jeremy Jagger, John Jessup, Richard 
Law, John Miller, Matthew Mitchell, Thomas Morehouse, John North- 
end, Thurston Raynor, John Reynolds, John Seaman, Samuel Sherman, 
Vincent Simkins (?), Henry Smith (son of Samuel), Andrew W^ard, 
Jonas Weed, John Whitmore, Thomas Wicks or W^eeks, Edward (or 
Edmond) W^ood, Jeremy Wood, Jonas Wood, Jonas W^ood, Jr., Jonas 
Wood, 3d, and Francis Yates. Some of the above afterward went to 
Guilford and Stratford, others to Long Island. To Cupheag (Strat- 
ford), in 1639-40, went Robert Coe, Jr., John Curtis, Thomas Shei-- 
wood, and John Thomson. 

In 1644 and 1645 the Totoket plantation (named Branford soon 
after) was formed, mainly by "Mr. Swayne & some others of 
Weathersfield," who had purchased the land from the Indians. The 
settlers chose the Rev. John Sherman for their spiritual leader, he 
joining them from Milford. The Wethersfield colonists were : Robert 
Abbott, Roger Betts, Leslie Bradfield, Robert Foote, John Norton, 
W'illiam Palmer, John Plumb, Samuel Plumb, Sigismond Richells, 
Robert Rose, Charles Taintor, John Ward, Thomas Whitway, and 
perhaps some others. But thei'c was also an influx of settlers during 
the period from 1645 to 1660. The following list, prepared at con- 
siderable pains, is believed to contain the names of nearly all these : — 

Sergeant Eichard Beoldey. Samuel Belden. John Blackleacli (perhaps 

William Belden. Banfield or Benfield. not till 1662). 

John Belden. John Betts. Samuel Boardman. 



WETIIKRSFIELD. 



439 



Robert Boltwood. 
Jiiiues Doswell. 
Jolin liracoy or Brace. 
Emanuel Buck. 
Enoch Buck. 
Henry Buck. 
Tliomiw Biiiicu. 
Kich.ird Butler. / 
William Butler. 
Samuel Cole. 
William Colfax. 
John Coultman. 
Benjamin ('nine. 
]5alth;iMr De Wolf. 
l.i'.Miard Dix. ► 
liobert Franci-s. 
Uichard Francis. 
George Gear or Gere. 
Philip Golfe. 
.Mirhael Griswold. 
■William Gull. 
Samuel Hale. 



Thomas Hale. 

Kichard Hall. 

Samuel Hall. 

ThoniiLs llanchettorHun- 
sett. 

John Harrison. 

Benjamin Hilliaril. 

Joh Milliard. 

Luke Hitchcock. 

Henry Howard or Hay- 
ward. 

Walter Hoyt. 

Lewis Jones's Widow (t). 

Sarah .Ionian. 

Jiihn Kirliy. 

Thomas Kirkham. 

Thomas Lonl, schoolmas- 
ter. 

Samuel Martin. 

Kichavd ^Montague. 
-.John Morey or Morrcy. 

William Morris. 



Jarvis Mudge. 

Mygatt. 

.Itihu iiilcy. 

John Koot, 

John L'ussclL 

Kev. John liusscll, Jr. 

Joseph .Smith. 

Richard Smith, the weaver. 

Ifiehard Smith, .Sr. 

IJichanl .Smith, Jr. 

William .Smith. 

Nathaniel Stanford. 

.Matthias Treat. 

Bohert Trwit. 

John "Wadhams. 

James Wakcley or Walkley. 

Governor Thomas Welles. ' 

Thomas Welles, 2d. t 

Thom;is Williams, .Sr. 

Kev. Jonathan Willoughby. 

Anthony Wright. 



Tn April, lfi59, a settlement was begun at Norwottnck, afterward 
Hadley, Mass. To tiiis enterprise AVethersfield contribntiMl about one 
third of the pioneer settlers; and lier pastor, the Rev. John Russell, 
became Hadley's first minister. Tliose who went from Wetliersiield 
were : John Russell, Sr., the Rev. John Rus.scll, Jr., Nathaniel Dick- 
inson (for twenty years recorder for AVethersfiehn, Samuel Smith 
(son of Rev. Henry, deceased), Thomas and John Coleman (sons of 
Thomas), John and Thomas Dickinson (sons of Nathaniel), Thomas 
Welles (son of IIu<t1i ?), Samuel (Jardnor. James Northam, .fohn 
Hubbard, Holjcrt lioltwood, William Gull, Philip Smith (son of Samuel 
Smith, Sr.). These were followed in 10(51, by Nathaniel Dickinson, Jr., 
Isaac Graves, .John Graves, TJKunas Graves, Samuel IJelden, and 
Samuel Dickinson. Within a few years thereafter Daniel Utddcn 
Nathaniel Foote, Samuel Footc, Samuel Relden, Edwanl Benton, John 
Coleman, William Ellis, Stephen Taylor, Pliilii) Russell, and John 
Welles were added to the number; mostly occupyiuir that section 
which received iho. name of Ilatlicld. In the twent}' years ne.xt foltow- 
inic I'ltlO many new comers were added to the list of settlers. After 
liiGO there was no organized e.Kodus of Wethersfield's inhal)itants ; 
but other settlements in the colony received immigrants therefrom in 
small numbers. 



Wethersfield's existence as a parish dates from the spring of 1636, if 
we may trust the meagre indications wliich have come down to the 
present day. Unlike Hai'tford and Windsor, its original settlers 
came without any church organization. They were Puritans, or 
Non-conformists, and not Pilgrims, otherwi.se called Se]>arates, or 
Hrownists. Tliey, or most of them, were members of Mr. Phillips's 
church, at Watertown. The General Court of Connecticut, at its 
first session. April '2f\, Itlot), "ratified and confirmed" a dismis.sal of 
certain members of the Wali-rtown church which i\ad been irranted 



440 MEMORIAL HISTORY OP HARTFORD COUNTY. 

on the 29th of March, 1635. The persons dismissed were : Andrew 
Ward, John Sherman, John Strickland, Robert Coe, Robert Reynolds, 
and Jonas Weede.* They were authorized " to form anew in a Church 
Covenant" in Connecticut; and they promised to " renew the Covenant," 
— so the record of the General Court says, — and Mr. Ward was one of 
the five members then constituting that Court. With the possible ex- 
ception of Robert Reynolds, the persons named were then in Weth- 
ersfield, and were the nucleus of the new ecclesiastical society. Mr. 
Sherman was a clergyman, but he was not " settled " at Wethersfield ; 
and in 1640 he joined the Wepowaug (or Milford) colonists, removing 
thence to New Haven, and in 1645 to Branford, where a little colony, 
mainly of Wethersfield men, was being formed. This gentleman, born 
in 1613, at Dedham, England, was the ancestor of the distinguished 
General Sherman and Senator Sherman of to-day. The Rev. Richard 
Denton, who had come from Halifax, England, in 1638, although a 
householder at Wethersfield, was not installed. In 1640 he removed 
to Rippovvams with a majority of the church, and there laid the foun- 
dations of Stamford. Mather says of him, that he was a " little man " 
with " a great soul," and " blind of one eye." The Rev. Peter Prud- 
den, who is said to have been at Quinnipiac in 1638, came to Wethers- 
field the same year ; but he joined the Milford colony in 1639. 

The suggestion may be unkind, but it is possible that the presence 
of so many clergymen at Wethersfield, in those days of theological 
controversies, was in itself an element of discord. At all events, it 
was not till 1641 that Wethersfield had its first settled minister, the 
Rev. Henry Smith, who had arrived with his family from Charlestown, 
Mass., probably in 1639. 

Until 1693 the bounds of the parish were coextensive with those 
of the township ; and after the setting off of Glastonbury, in that year, 
the jmrish lines still remained coincident with those of the re-formed 
township, mitil the organization of the West Farms people into a sepa- 
rate parish, — that of Newington, — in December, 1712. The east or 
old section was thereafter known as the First Society, and the Newing- 
ton, as the Second. 

The Great Swamp parish, of Farmington, was enlarged in 1715, 
and made to include that section of Wethersfield known as Beckley 
Quarter, — said parish taking the name of Kensington in 1722. By 
way of comjiensation, Stanley Quarter, in Farmington, was annexed 
to Newington parish. These changes did not affect the lines of the 
First Society. 

In March, 1722, a parish was organized at Rocky Hill and named 
Stepney, though it had been proposed to call it Lexington. We cannot 
attempt here to give by courses and distances the lines from time to 
time of this parish or the other parishes ; but it will suffice to say that 
the present township of Rocky Hill embraces all the original parish of 
Stepney, and considerable more. Glastonbury and Stepney have each 
in turn been divided ]jarochially. The result of the readjustments of 
parish (now called school society) lines is, that at present the lines of 
the First School Society are identical with those of the town. 

Returning to Mr. Smith, the first minister settled, it may be said 
that his pastorate was not a happy one. He had to encounter Clement 



UCTIIEHSFIELD. 441 

Cliii|iliii, the wealtliv ami factious ruling elder. Mr. ."^uiitli died in 
l(j4t<, iiiul iiis willow married the father of him who was to succeed in 
the ministry, (iovernor John Cotton Smith was a descendant of Mr. 
Smith and also of Rev. Richard Jhither. 

The next installation was that of the Rev. Jolin Russell, Jr., in 1<;.")0. 
Horn in Knirland in lti:2(>, ^naduated at Harvard in lt!4."), he ]ii-ol)al)ly 
eanie to Wetherslielcl in lUls, wlicif, in (lie followinir year, he married 
a dau'/liter of the Worshipfid .John TalcotI, of Hartford. It was dur- 
iujr his term, in ItJo'J, that the einireh trouldes arose which culminated 
in emiirration to Hadley (tiien Xorwottuck), where lie died in ItlTO, a 
larire part of his former Wethersfield congreiration lieing meml)ers of 
his tlock. His home in Hadley was for some years the refuge of the 
regicides (Jofl'e and Wiialley. 

The Rev. John ("otton, son of the Boston divine of the same name, 
was the next incumbent of the ))ulitit. Ho |)rcached from February, 
llitiO, until al>out June, lti63, — his next work being among the Indians 
at Martha's Vineyard, where he preached in their language. He died 
at Ciiarlestou, South Carolina, in 1099, where he was then settled. 
Tlio Rev. Joseph Haynes, son of (iovernor John Haynes, occupied the 
pulpit from June, llitiS, for about one year, when lie became the third 
pastor of the First Church in Hartford. He died there in 1079. 

Beginning in August, 1004, the Rev. Thomas Huckingham jireached 
one or two montlis. He was settled at Saybrook in 1070, where he 
became one of the founders of Yale College. The Rev. Jonathan 
Willoughby, of Charlestown, ihiss., preached from September, 1(504, 
to May, 100.3, when he went to Haddam. The Rev. Samuel Wake- 
man, of Fairfield, preached in the spring of 1000. The Rev. Samuel 
Stone, son of the reverend gentleman of the same name at Hartford, 
was the next settled minister. He preached from some time in 1006 
until June, 1009, — part of the time as colleague of the Rev. Oershom 
Bulkeley. He was accidentally drowned at Hartford, in 1093, while 
intoxicated. In 1607 the Rev. Oershom Bulkeley, one of the most 
distinguished men of his day, came 

from New London church to become /P af y^ /^' ^ / 

the pastor at Wethersfield. He was U t^of^^ ^Jiu^^^^^d^/ 
the son of the Rev. Peter Bulkeley. ^ 

of Concord, Mass. He had been graduated at Harvard College twelve 
years before, and had married a daughter of President Chauncy. Mr. 
Bulkeley was learned not only in theology, but also in law and in 
medicine and surgery. He was both cha|)lain and surgeon in the 
Indian campaign (jf 107.5-107*5. His health failed him in 1070, and he 
thereafter devoted his time mainly to medical and legal matters. He 
died at Glastonbury in December, 171-3, while on a visit to his daugh- 
ter, the widow Dorothy Treat. His remains were brought to Wethers- 
field, and a stone talile was placed over them, whereon a lengthy 
inscription may still \w read. 

The Rev. Josc)i]i Rowlandson, the minister at Lancaster, Mass., a 

native of Kngland, had, in February, 

/Jnfci,Q Hi nMifn^(L- 1076, sufl'ered the loss of his house 

'^ and tiiey had ca|>tured his wife and 

three children. One of the latter died, and the others, with their 



442 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

mother, were ransomed. In April of the following 3-ear he came to 
Wethersfield, where he preached until his death, in November, 1678. 

The Rev. John Woodbridge, the next incumbent, was settled in 
1679. He was a son of the minister of the same name at Newbury, 

x^ Q ^~^ rf~\ Mass., and a grandson of Gov- 

v(-6 H^H- C3^tf6c) USrii^^. ernor Dudley. He died in 
CiJ o 1691. A brother, Timothy, was 

minister of the First Church at Hartford. 

The Rev. William Partridge was called, as an assistant to Mr. Wood- 
bridge, in 1691. He had been graduated at Harvard College two years 
before. He died in September, 1693, aged twenty -four years. He was, 
we suppose, a son of Colonel Samuel Partridge, of Hatfield, Mass. 

With the Rev. Stephen Mix, in 1693, a long and prosperous term 
of pastoral charge was begun. He was tlie son of Thomas Mix, of New 
Haven, and had been graduated from Harvard but three years before 
his call to Wetherslield. The earliest records of the church, beginning 
in 1697, are in his handwriting, — partly in shorthand. 
In 1696 he married Mary, the daughter of the Rev. Solo- Ji i-y^-. ptitc^ 
mon Stoddard, of Northampton, Mass. His house was 
one of the six which were fortified in 1704. After forty-four years of 
service, Mr. Mix died, in 1738. The late Chief Judge, Stephen Mix 
Mitchell, was a great-grandson of Mr. Mix, and the writer, Donald 
Grant Mitchell, is one of his descendants. 

The Rev. James Lockwood, born in Norwalk in 1714, succeeded 
Mr. Mix in 1738. He was a scholarly gentleman, and many of his 
sermons were printed. He was offered the presidency of the college at 

Princeton, to succeed President Jon- 
athan Edwards, which he declined. 
He was chosen President of Yale 
College, which office he also declined. 
His fine dwelling-house, still standing was built and presented to him 
by his grateful parishioners. He died in 1772. President Stiles says 
of him that " he was a Calvinist, inclined to the new divinity." He 
was potent, so says his epitaph, — ■ 

" The Bold to curb, and the Ijieentious awe, 
And turn the tide of Souls another way." 

We come now to the name of one whose words from the pulpit 
were heard by some who are now living. We refer to the Rev. John 
Marsh, S.T.D. He was a son of David Marsh, of Haverhill, Mass. 
When called to Wethersfield he was tutor at Harvard, where he 
had been gradu- 
ated in 1761. He r/' / ^J ^ ^ 

was settled in Jan- Jy^t^-rt_^ ^^^/Z^/^iyT^A t/^^to^ 

uary, 1 / 74, and 
remained in the 
Wethersfield pul- 
pit until his death, in 1821, at the age of seventy-nine years. His 
congregation was perhaps the largest and most influential in the State. 
There were times, it is said when it contained as many as thirty 
college-bred attendants. He was graceful and courtly. Mr. Sprague 
(in his " Annals of the American Pulpit ") says of him : " Perhaps he 













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WETHERSFIKLD. 445 

wore tlie last wliitc uijr in New Eiifrlanil." Mrs. Sijjoiirney sa_vs of 
liim : ■• His lios|)itality was beautiful." One of liis daughters married 
the late Rev. 0. E. Dagget, D.D., and another tiie late Hon. Richard H. 
Daua, Jr. Wasliington listened to one or two of his sermons on the 
occasion of the military conference at Wethersfield in 17H1. 

Tiie Rev. Caleb Jewett Tenney, D.D., was a colleague pastor 
with Dr. Marsh for the last five years of the latter's term. He 
was born in Hollis, New Hampshire, in 1780, and was graduated at 
Dartmouth College at the head of his class in 1801 ; Daniel Webster 

having been a member of the same class. lie had preached in Xewport 
before coming to Wethersdeld. From the latter place he was regret- 
fully dismissed in 1841. He <lied at Northampton, Mass., in 1847. 
Since Dr. Tenney 's ministry the following-named have succeeded him : 
The Rev's Charles J. Warren, as colleague, from July, 1835, to Feb- 
ruary, 1837 ; Rol)ert Southgate, from Portland, Maine, as colleague, 
from Fi'liruarv, lS38, — as sole pastor, from Januarv, 1841. to Novem- 
ber, 1S4:!: Mark Tucker, D.D., from October, 184o, to March, 1856 ; 
Willis S. Colton, from September, 185(), to July, 18(30 ; A. C. Adams, 
from March, 1808, to May, 1879 ; Lewis W. Hicks, from September, 
1881, to the present time. 

We turn fiom the consideration of the ministers of the First Con- 
gregational Church ill Wethersfield to an examination of its houses of 
worship. These were, successively, the '' Meeting Houses" of the town 
until after the ado])tion of our jircsent constitution. When the first 
meeting-house was l)uilt is, antl probably always will be, a matter of 
conjecture. The writer has heretofore assumed, in order to be on 
the safer side, that the one in which seats were ordered, in March, 
1046-7, to be put up, by a town vote of that date, — the earliest vote 
preserved, — was the first meeting-house, and that its construction was 
begun in 1045. Hut this may have been, as the late Nathaniel Goodwin, 
of Hartford, suppo.sed, the seconil meeting-house; and he had given much 
timi' to the study of Wethersiiekl's early church history. Certain it is 
that in 1()47 a meeting-liouse was completed. It was a small structure, 
of logs or timber, the interstices whereof were '•underdaubed"' with clay. 
In Septeml)er, 1047, it was elapboarded, and previously had been wain- 
scoted. It had a north and a south door, was square in plan, and it 
had a belfry, which contained a bell in 1057, or earlier. In 1075 gal- 
leries were t)uilt in it. A " guard " of armed men was kept constantly 
in attendance. Its meetings were convoked at times iiy the bell, and 
sometimes by the drum. It \tas demolished in lti88. 

The ne.xt meeting-house was built, or begim, by the town, in 1685, 
near where its predecessor stood. It was fifty feet square, with gal- 
leries (built in 1702), and an upper room, which was used for school 
purjjoses. It had doi'mer windows. The old bell was used in it until 
1088, when a new one was mounted, made in pari from the old one. 



446 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

and stairs were built leading to it. In 1 716 additional seats were built 
for students of Yale College, — one branch of that institution being 
then maintained in Wethersfield. 

The next meeting-house, which was the one now in use as the 
church edifice of the First Congregational (or Ecclesiastical) Society, 
was begun in 1761. This venerable structure stands some four or five 
rods northeasterly from the site of that of 1685. A hundred years ago 
it was noted for its well-trained and cultivated choir, which, President 
Dwight says, exhibited more taste and skill than he had ever observed 
elsewhere. Within its walls Washington and the elder Adams, before 
either was President, attended divine service ; and other distinguished 
people from abroad have accounted it an honor to occupy a seat 
in one of its pews. The building is modelled after the style of the Old 
South Church at Boston. In 1838 its interior was modified by the 
removal of its sounding-board, and by the substitution of slips for its 
ancient pews, besides changes in the pulpit and galleries. In 1882- 
1883 there was a general renovation of its interior, and considerable 
change in its exterior ; and the result was to render it more beautiful, 
although at a sacrifice of some of its most interesting features. 

The first preaching done in Wethersfield by a Separatist was prob- 
ably by the Rev. Ebenezer Frothingham, in 1746. He had been or- 
dained there in October of that year. The next year he suffered 
imprisonment for five months " for preaching without the consent of 
the minister of the parish." There were but few members of Mr. 
Frothingham's society, and he soon divided his time between Wethers- 
field and Middletown. At the latter place, in 1754, he established 
the South Church. He died there in 1798, aged eighty-one years. 

In 1784 Francis Hanmer, the "Elder" of the Congregational Church 
(or Presbyterian, as it sometimes called itself), with Joseph and Sim- 
eon Flower, John and Simeon Deming, John Goodrich, James Hanmer, 
John Stewart, and Abijah Tryon, memorialized the regular church for 
altatement of their church taxes, because they " soberly dissent from 
meeting with the Congregation for public worship on the Sabbath." 
The old society voted that the memorialists, as Separates, were entitled 
to the relief. This was the origin of the Baptist society in Weth- 
ersfield, unless we date from the time of services being first held 
by these Separates, in 1782. In 1816 the Baptists built their 
first house of worship, the only one in the township of that denomi- 
nation. This was succeeded by the present one, in 1876, on the 
same site. 

The first resident pastor was the Rev. William Bentley, who held 
his office from October, 1815, to October, 1822. He was born at 
Newport, Rhode Island, and came to Wethersfield from Worcester, 
Mass. He was succeeded by the Rev. Scth Ewer for one year, after 
which there was no resident pastor until 1834, when the Rev. John Hol- 
brook was installed ; but he held office for about eight months only. 
A vacancy now existed until 1839, when the Rev. William Reid, a 
Scotchman, held the office for two years. From 1842 to 1844 the Rev. 
Henry Kenyon was the pastor. The Rev. Henry I. Smith followed, for 
about one year. The Rev. Cyrus Miner was pastor from 1846 to 1847, 
the Rev. Henry Bromley succeeding until April, 1849. The Rev. Pier- 
pont Brockett began in April, 1849, and held office for three years. 




.*»«!; 



WETHERSFIELD. 447 

The Rev. II. r.. Wliittiiiirtnii was tlic next pastor, from May, 1852, to 
October, 1853 ; the Rev. William S. Phillip.s, Sr.. from June, 1800, 
to Februurv, 18G'J ; tlie Rev. Amasa Howard, from Jamiarv, 18t>4. to 
April, 18GG ; the Rev. Oeorire W. Kinney, from \\n-\\, 18G8, to Janu- 
ary, 18(39 ; the Rev. Joseph Rurnett, from ()etoi)er, 1870, to Novemijer, 
1872: the Rev. Henry G. Smith, from Mareh, 1873, for one year: the 
Rev. William S. Pliillips, Jr., from April, 1874, for one year; the Rev. 
A. Randlett, from May, 1875, to June, 1877 ; the Rev. A. 8. Uwrrows, 
from Aiis^ust, 1877, to "November, 1878. The Rev. E. R. Rond, the pres- 
ent pastor, succeeded in 5Iay, 1879. To him the writer is indebted for 
iufoi'mation as to this church. 

The lirst small beniuninc,' of ^[ethodism in W^cthcrsfield dates per- 
haps from October, 1740, wlien CJeorge AVhitclield preached under the 
great elm-tree in Broad Street. \lut the first distinctively Methodist 
sermon there was by the Vii-t-inian, Jesse Lee, a jiioneer e.\h<u-ter, in 
March, 1790. The noted Maryland preacher, Freeborn Garrettson, 
preached there in July, the same year. From this time until 1821 
occasional sermons were given by itinerant i)reachers. At this time a 
" circuit," including Wethersfield, New Britain, and Kensintrton, was 
formed, under the cluu-ge of tiie Rev. William S. (-'Billy") Pease. 
Some excitement — almost a riot, in fact — ensued upon permission 
being granted to the ilethodists to worship in Academy Hall in 1823. 
In 1824 they built their first house of \vorship. but it remained in an 
unfinished condition for some years. In 1882 the building was entirely 
remodelled. 

To the Rev. George L. Cobuni the writer is indebted for the 
following list of its i)astors : Rev's William S. Pease and Robert 
Seney, 1821-1822; John Luekv, 1823; Smith Davton, 1824; J. Z. 
Nichols and S. L. Stillman, 1825-182(3 ; Eli Deniston, 1827 ; John 
Parker, 1828 ; Valentine Buck, 1829 ; Lvman A. Sanford, 1830 ; 
L. C. Chenev, 1831 ; Leman Andrews, 1832; E. L. Griswold, 1833- 
1834 ; Daniel Burroughs, 1835 ; Z. N. Lewis, 183(3 ; Gad N. Smitli, 
1837 ; Leonidas Rosscr, 1838-1839 ; H. Husted, 1840 ; Laban Clark, 
1841; Svlvester II. Clark, 1842-1843; William L. Stillman, 1844- 
1845 ; Miles N. Omstead, 184() ; Nathaniel Kellouir. 1847 ; David Miller, 
1848 ; James T. Bell, 1849-1850 ; R. D. Kirbv. 1851 ; Johnson C. 
Griswold, 1854; Charles C. Burr, 1855; Charles K. True, 1856; 
Raphael Gilbert, 1858-1859; Isaac Sanford, 18G0 ; James Garrett, 
1801 ; D. C. Hughes, 1802 ; B. Whitman Chase, 1863 ; G. P. Ells- 
worth and J. G.^Griswold, 1804-18(i5 ; Salmon Jones, 1866 ; George 
E. Reed and E. MeChesnev, 18(i7 ; George E. Reed and Rich- 
ards, 1868 ; A. Palmer and" Geor^ Woodruff. 1809 ; Perry Chandler, 
1870; Joseph B. Shepherd, 1871; James Nixon, 1872 ; Charles H. 
Hem.street, 1873-1874 ; A. 0. Al)bott. 1875 ; Albert Nash, 1870 ; C. 
J. North, 1877 ; J. B. Shepherd, 1878 ; David Nash, 1879 ; George 
L. Coburn, 1880. The Rev. F. S. Townsend is the present pastor. 

The Rev. Samuel Johnson, who in 1724 became the first rector of 
the " first edifice for the Church of England in the colony." at Strat- 
ford, visited Wethersfield in 1729, with the purpose of establishing an 
Episcopal church there ; l)ut his efforts were nearly fruitless. The 
earliest organized society of Protestant Episcojialians in Wethersfield 
was in the Newin^ton section, in 1797. A church edifice was built in 



448 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

the south end of that parish ; but the society, which was the offspring 
of dissensions in the Congregational Church there, soon became dis- 
organized, and its bouse of worship was sold and demolished. ^ In 
1840 or 1841 the Rev. John Williams, now the Bishop of Connecti- 
cut, preached a single sermon at Wethersfield ; but it was not till 
January, 1868, that stated services were instituted. A formal organi- 
zation was effected in October, 1869, under the name of Trinity Church 
Parish. It was under the general rectorship of the Re\-. Henry W. 
Nelson, of Hartford, until April, 1875, when the Rev. Howard Clapp, 
of Hartford, was invited for one year. In April, 1876, he was elected 
(the first) resident rector, which office he held until 1883. In the 
mean time, in 1873, its church edifice was built. The Rev. H. A. 
Adams is now the rector. 

In 1876 the Rev. Lawrence Walsh, the priest then in charge of St. 
Peter's Church, Hartford, organized the first Catholic church in Weth- 
ersfield, under the title of the " Sacred Heart of Jesus." It is included 
in the parish of East Hartford. A house of worship was completed, and 
dedicated in May, 1881. 

It is not within the province of this sketch to give an account of 
other parishes formed, wholly or in part, out of the ancient township 
and parish of Wethersfield. We will, however, add a few facts as to 
some of them. 

Glastonbury became a township and parish in October, 1693. Per- 
mission therefor had been granted in 1690, but the condition precedent 
was not performed until three years later. That condition was, that a 
meeting-house sliould first be comyjleted. This was consummated in 
October, 1693 ; and a minister, the Rev. Timothy Stevens, was then for 
the first time settled there. 

Newington parish, including a large section now in Berlin, was es- 
tablished in 1713. For information as to its ecclesiastical history, the 
reader is referred to the historical sketch of that township in this 
volume. 

To the historians of Farmington and New Britain the reader must 
look for some account of Great Swamp parish, part of which (Stanley 
Quarter) was in Wethersfield. Its first meeting-house, on Christian 
Lane, just west of the town line, was built in 1709 by William Blin, of 
Wethersfield ; and its first minister, the Rev. William Burnham, was 
from the same town. The account of Berlin, in this volume, records 
the origin of Kensington and Worthington parishes. Part of Wethers- 
field (now in Beckley Quarter) belonged to each in turn. And the 
present town-hall of Berlin, which is bisected ))y the old line between 
Wethersfield and Middlctown, is the old first meeting-house of Worth- 
ington, built in 1774 on land donated mainly by Wethersfield. For 
some account of Stepney parish, the reader is referred to our sketch of 
Rocky Hill, in this volume. 

The town of Wethersfield controlled the schools within her limits 
until the formation of Newington parish, in 1713 ; or, in fact, until 
1717, when, as to that section, the control fell to that parish. Again, 
in 1722, Stepney parish having been formed, the schools there passed 

' See History of Newingtou. 



WETHERSFIELD. 449 

into tlic hands of that paiisli. Tlic ivst of tho townsliij) (exclusive of 
IJcH-kley (^lartcr) took upon itself tiie nainc of the First Society in 
17-22, anil, as a parisji, eonductcd the schools within its limits. Bccklov 
Quarter, being in a jtaiish that was partly in other towns, was mainly, 
as to school matters, under tho care of the town of Wctlierslield tmtil 
the incorporation of Berlin. 

lu 1746 the First Society divided itself for school purposes into two 
precincts, to Ijc under tho society's control, as before. The dividint; line 
was coincident with that sejtarating the district of the (irst trainband 
from that of the second one in 1097; and sul)stantially the same as 
that between the present Broad Street and ITiirli Street school districts. 
In 17117 the First S'-honl Society was formed, iiavinij the same limits as 
the First Society, or I'arish. The fu-st school district in Wctlierslield 
was in Beckley Quarter, by s|>ecial act of the legislatui-e, in 1757. It 
had exercised separate jurisdiction from 1748, by special vote of the 
town. 

The First Society had for several years endeavored to divide itself 
into districts, [jursuant to the act of 17(50, but in vain. In 1772, upon 
petition of Hezekiali May, Ezekiol Porter, and others, .the leirislature 
made the division. Broad Street (ineludiuii; the present South Hill, 
Griswoldvillc, and part of the West Hill district) was made the First 
district; the Nortli Brick was made the Second, and the Uigh Street 
the Third. 

In 178i», upon the |ietition of Samuel Wolcott, Josiah Robbins, Tim- 
othy Russell, and others to the lesrislature, tlie Fourth, or West Hill 
district was formed from parts of the First and Second districts. In 
1811, upon the applicatic)n of Abner Mosely, Samuel W. Williams, and 
Joseph Welib, the First district voteil to divide. In 1815 the legisla- 
ture conlirmed its action. By this division the Fifth, or South district 
■was formed, and the name of the First was changed to Broad Street. 
The South was enlarged by extension to the town line south, in 1858. 
In 1887 the Fourth, or West Hill district was divided, and the Sixth, 
or Southwest (CJriswoldville) school district was formed. This district 
was enlarged in 1850 so as to include some territory in the township 
of Rocky Hill. In 1822 the line between the Second and Fourth 
districts was changed by the annexation of part of the latter to the 
former. In 1810 the Fourth district was enlarged so as to include the 
two streets '• on the western borders " of the same. 

In 1797, the year before the act was passed authorizing the forma- 
tion of school societies, the First Society, so far as it could legally do 
so, .separated into two organizations, having the same territorial limits, 
the one called the First School Society and the other the First Society ; 
and ultimately the latter I)eearae the First Urrlesiastieal Society. 
Thereafter the merely parochial functions were attended to in meetings 
of the First Ecclesiastical Society until about the time of the adoption 
of our State constitution, when tliis society, practically at least, ceased 
to have territorial limits. But as to schools, burying-grounds, pomids, 
etc., the First School Society assumed, and still has, the general con- 
trol, subject to such losses of jurisdiction as have been occasioned by 
the law of 1794. conferring autonomy upon school districts. 

At Rocky Hill (Stepney ]iarish) a branch school, under the auspices 
of the town, was begun in 1G94. This was more than thirty years 
VOL. II. — 2a. 



450 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

before the organization of that section into a parish, and about twenty 
years before any school was kept at Newington ; altliough the hitter, 
as a parisli, is the older by about fourteen years. In 1712 the peo- 
ple from Sam Dix's (now Russell Adams's) corner, southward to 
Middletown line, formed in a school pi-ecinct ; but there was no legal 
organization till 1726, when Stepney parish was formed. In 1735 the 
West Farmers began to agitate for school facilities ; but at this time 
the only favor granted to them by Stepney parish was permission to have 
a school at AVest Rocky Hill- a part of the year. 

In 1752 three territorial sections were formed. Another section, the 
central, was established in 1779. These were all acts done by or with 
the authority of the parish. In 1782 a petition was preferred to the 
legislature by John Robbins, Giles Deming, Charles Butler, and Isaac 
Deming, all of Stepney parish, for the establishment of school districts. 
The action thereon was favorable, and three districts were formed. 
The First corresponded with that now called the Middle district, very 
nearly ; the Second, with the present South, so called ; and the Third, 
with the present Noi'th. In 1791 that part of the j)arish lying west of 
the three districts above mentioned was made the Fourth, or AVestern 
district. This included all of West Rocky Hill excepting that part in 
the Beckley Quarter district. In 1850 a part of the Griswoldville school 
district was annexed to this district. These seem to be all the changes 
that have been made in school-district lines in Stepney parish and 
Rocky Hill township. 

At Newington the schools, as at Stepney, antedate the districts of 
the parish ; but they do not, as in the latter case, antedate the parish 
itself. The first mention of a school there occurs in 1723, some ten 
years after the parish was constituted.^ 

Much difficulty attends the inquiiy where the earliest schools were 
kept. This is because, first, they were in many instances held in 
hired apartments ; second, they were often in school-houses standing in 
the highways, so that no record of the site selected would be made. 
The first school edifice in AVethersfield stood next south of where the 
Silas Deane house is. When it was built does not appear ; but in 
1660 it had become unfit for further use. Mr. Thomas Lord, of Hart- 
ford, afterward famous as a bone-setter, was at this time the town's 
" schoolmaster." When he began to teach does not appear ; but it was 
before 1658. A vote was then passed giving him £25 per annum, and 
the use of a house and meadow, as formerly ; so it appears that he had 
begun some years earlier than 1658. 

In 1661 Mr. Eleazer Kimberly, afterward colonial secretary, was 
chosen the schoolmaster. In 1665 a writing-school was established. 
In the same year Mr. Josiah Willard, a distinguished man, first 
of the name in Wethersfield, was chosen schoolmaster. Two years 
later John Coultman, Avho was also the miller, was elected to the same 
po.sition. At this time the vote was, " to provide a house to keep 
school in." Perhaps the house was Coultraan's, on the north end, and 
the east side of Broad Street. In 1668 Samuel Butler, son of Richard, 
of Hartford, was chosen schoolmaster. Mr. Kimberly was again the 
teacher in 1677. At this time Lieutenant Thomas HoUister, Mr. John 

1 See Newington. 



WETIIERSFIELD. 451 

Robbiiis, Joseph Edwards, Benjamin Churchill, and Sergeant Samuel 
Wriprlit. as a connnittcc of tlic town, built a school-house al)out where 
the ("ontrrcgational chapel now is; certainly, tin- horse-shcd.-s of the 
meeting-house adjoined it on the east. Mr. Kimberly continued to be 
the teacher until H)89 ; about which time he removed across the river. 

In 1733 the First Society voted to rebuild on the site of the "old" 
structure ; meaning, as we suppose, the one built in ItlTT. Whether a 
house was then built does not appear ; but })erhaps the conti'ary may be 
inferred, since in 1738 a vote to lay the " u])per groat floor of the 
meeting-house " is coupled with a vote to " plaster the scliodl-hoiise over- 
head ; " but there are indications that the upper room of the meeting- 
house was used for school purposes instead. Sundry votes indicate 
that in 174(5-1748 the society built two .school-houses, — one in the 
north section, the other in the south, the town furnishing land for the 
sites. While no vote designates these sites, all the indications are that 
one was in Broad Street and the other where the Nortli Brick school- 
house is to-day. About 1768 John Welles, Jacob Dix, 0/ias (Jriswold, 
Zephaniah Hatch. Samuel Wolcott, Josiali Roljl)ins, and others, at their 
own cxponsc l)uilt a school-house, probably of wood, on Windmill 
(West) llill. In 1770, and perhajis earlier, a scliool was kept "on the 
hill, in (,'ollyer road," running west from South Hill to Griswoldville. 
It was i)robal)ly in some dwelling-house on South Hill. 

In 1771 a movement was begun which residted in the formation of 
the First, Second, and Third scliool districts. At this time Hezckiah 
May, E/.ekicl Porter, Silas Deane, and others petitioned the legislature 
to divide tlie society into districts. They alleged that there were four 
hundred children in the society limits, and but two school-houses; that 
a third one liad been built by voluntary subscriptions, in 1770, to accom- 
modate the one hundred children on one (the Main) .street, on which 
the petitioners lived. The result was the formation of the First, Second, 
and Third districts ; and the erection of the brick school-house formerly 
in Broad Street, and also the ju-esent North Brick structure. For the 
Tliird district the school-house built by volunteers, in 1770, on High 
Street, was adopted. Tiie construction of the i5road Street and North 
Brick buildings liad been eoinnienced by the First Society before the 
form;ition of the districts in question. For the First (Broad Street) 
district a branch school-house of wood was built on South Hill in 1772, 
in the highway, some three or four rods southwesterly from the present 
brick school-house of the South district, which was built in 1850. The 
Broad Street school-house, of brick, was destroyed by lire in 1866, and 
the i)resent structure was l)uilt the next year. The High Street build- 
ing remained in use until 1i^i)2, when it was succeeded by the brick one 
of to-day. The old liuihling is now a dwelling-house at the south end 
of the town. The Olil South school-house is a wagon-shop. 

In 1780 West Hill was made a new district, — the Fourth. Tlie old 
building, built by Captain Josiah Bobbins and others in 1768, was in 
1795 replaced by the brick building which, until 1870, stood in the 
crossing of the West Hill and Welles Quarter roads. At the latter 
date the present one was built. 

At Griswoldville a school is said to have Ikh-u kept in the Major 
Josiah Griswold house bcfon> the formation of the Sixth district. 
That district dates from 1835. In 1837 it built its first scjiool-houso. 



452 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

a ^^'ooden structure, now a dwelling-house. It stood on the site of the 
present chapel there. It was replaced in 1852 by the present brick 
school-house. This closes our sketch of the school-houses in the First 
Society. 

On the east side of the river, it does not appear that there was any 
school before that section was constituted a separate township. At 
Beckley Quarter the town, in 1748, aided the people in that section to 
maintain a school, by its action in exempting them from school-rates. 
In 1757 the legislature made this section a district, the first in Wetli- 
ersficld ; and we suppose its school-house was forthwith constructed, 
since that purpose was the principal reason assigned for asking for 
district autonomy. 

At Rocky Hill a school-house was built in 1712, in size twenty by 
sixteen feet, and six and a half feet " between joints." Sergeant Jona- 
than Smith, Benjamin Deming, and John Wright were the Iniilding 
committee, and Wethersfield ratified their doings. This, the first 
school-house at Rocky Hill, was in the highway, about opposite to the 
site of the present northernmost school-house of that town. 

In 1718 a committee of the legislature recommended two school- 
houses, one on the hill by Grimes's, the other on the hill by Widow 
Sam Cole's. But the evidence indicates that but one was built, — on 
Cole's Hill, by the west side of the bui-ying-ground, — and the old one, 
at the north end, continued in use ; the two together being called " the 
school." 

In 1726 Stepney parish was organized, and in 1729 it voted to remove 
the school-house from Cole's Hill to the space between the southwest 
corner of Sam Williams's pasture and the south end of the meeting- 
house, — which then stood in the highway, in front of the site now oc- 
cupied by the barn of Wait Warner. The removal took [ilace in 1731. 
In 1733 a new school-house was built on land of William Nott. 
The writer supposes this building to have been on the east side of the 
Middletown road, nearly opposite to the site of the present North school- 
house ; a school liaving in the mean time been kept in the meeting- 
house. In 1754 the old Cole's Hill school-house was sold to the highest 
bidder. In the mean time, in 1752, territorial limits liad been assigned 
for the three branch schools. From this time until 1757 " the school " 
was kept for certain months in one section, and then in another, and 
so on throughout the circuit thus constituted. 

In 1756, or soon after, there was a northern, a southern, and a 
western precinct. At the same time a school-house for the south sec- 
tion was built on the north bank of Hog Brook, at the foot of the hill 
below the burying-ground. Another, for the north section, was built on 
the south side of Jonathan Boardman's lot, in the highway, and on the 
east side thereof. 

In 1773 the parish voted to build two scliool-houses, — one for the 
north-central section, in the highway, near the north side of the Rev. 
Mr. Merriam's home-lot ; the other, for the south-central section, on 
Cole's Hill, between "the mouth of the lane leading to the Water-Side" 
and tiie house of Ephraim Williams. The western people were also 
authorized to put up a school-house at their own expense. 

Near the meeting-house certain individuals had at their own cost set 
up the frame for a new school-house. In 1773 the parisji voted to 



WKTIIEUSFIELD. 403 

take tliis frame at its just value for -one of tlic aforesaid scliool- 
houses." Tiie votes uf 1773 were not literally executed ; for wo fmd 
that the framework iu (jucstion was. jirior to 1771'. placed on the tri- 
angular plot between the roads, near the jjreseut residence of Dr. Riifus 
W. (iriswold. It came to be called the Middle school-house. In 1782 
districts Qthree) were created for the first time in this parish. Dr. 
Griswold, who has examined tiio district records, concludes that a 
school-house, of brick, was built in 1782, for the North, or Third 
district. It stood on the east side of the road, nearly ojiposite to the 
old house now oecupied by Jason Boardman, where its predecessor had 
stood. About the same time a new one was built for the South, or Sec- 
ond district, at the head of the road running westerly from and nearlv 
opposite to its present briek school-house. The latter was built in 
1849, to replace the former, which was removed to the north side of 
Hog Brook for a dwelling-house. In 1791 tiie Western district was 
created. Its first school-house, built then or earlier, was of wood, and 
stood in the road, a little south of the present brick building, which was 
built in 1S50. 

Tiio Middle school-house, of wood, ceased to exist as such about 
ISOU, when it was removed to the river-landing, to serve as a dwelling- 
house. It was again removed, in 1871, by the Connecticut Valley 
Railroad Company, to its present site on the Dividend road, between 
the burying-ground and Hog Brook. It was replaced by the present 
two-story brick building in the Centre. This interesting structure, built 
partly by means of voluntary subscriptions, caused the financial ruin of 
Aliraham .lagger, the contractor. It was destroyed by fire in 1839, re- 
built on the old walls, and has remained in use ever since. Its two 
lower rooms are devoted to school purposes, and its upper one is the 
public hall of Rocky Hill. 

The town established a ■' writing-school " in lG6o, but we cannot 
say how long it continued. In 1734, and at various dates thereafter, 
until 1797, a ''singing master" was employed in' the town. Private 
schools have probably been kei)t in the village for more than a hun- 
dred years past. Frederick Butler, Es(i., father of the late Chief Judge 
Thomas IJ. Butler, kei)t one in the academy building. He was the 
author of a History of the United States in three volumes, a Life of 
Washington, a Life of Lafayette, and other published works. One of 
the most noted schools was the Female Seminary, liegun iu 1824 by 
the Rev. Joseph Emerson, the author of several educational works. 
He died in 1833. His school was in the academy building. 

The academy, or high school, building was built in 1802-1 S03, partly 
by private contributions and partly by the First School .Society. The 
cliief promoter of the enterprise was Colonel John Chester. The Ijuild- 
ing cost ><3. 294.52. A public high school was established in it in 1839, 
which existed, with occasional interru])tion, until 1850. 

Since 18G8 a free high school has been maintained in the academy 
building. Mr. J. 0. Hurlburt, a native of East Hartford, has been the 
principal. It has the i)eucfit of a fund of *G,000, given by Chauncy 
Rose, of Terre Haute, Indiana, in 18G7, — a gentleman of wealth, and 
a native of Wcthersfield. 

In 17H'i-1717 the largest section of Yale College was in Wcthersfield. 
Pi-esident Clapp says : '' The principal part of the students went to 



454 MEMOIilAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Wethersliekl, and were under the instruction of Mr. Elislia Williams ; 
some went to otlier places, and some remained at Saybrook." During 
the year ending in September, 1717, the students were divided as fol- 
lows : at Wethersfield. fourteen ; at New Haven, thirteen ; at Saybrook, 
four. Extra seats for their accommodation wei-e set up in the meeting- 
house in 1716. Mr. Williams became the head of the institution at 
New Haven in 1725. 

Among the first acts of the plantation was the securing for itself a 
corjioratc name. Until February, 1637, it called itself, both as plan- 
tation and as township, Watertown. The reason for this name is ap- 
pai'ent. The first planters considered themselves still a part of the 
Massachusetts settlement whence they had emigrated ; and in an 
ecclesiastical sense, perhaps they were so. At least one session of the 
General Court, that of September, 1636, was holden " at Watertown," 
on the Connecticut River. In the same month administration was 
granted upon the estate of the murdei'ed Oldham there, it being the first 
instance of the settlement of an estate in the colony. 

A new name, " Wythersfeild," was given to the plantation in Feb- 
ruary, 1G36-7. The reason for selecting this title has never been satis- 
factorily explained. The word is said to mean " a sheep-field ; " but this 
can hardly be inferred from the old sjjellings of the English hamlet, upon 
the Pant, or Blackwatcr River, in Essex County. It may be found writ- 
ten Walperfcld, Whelperlicld, Weddarsfield, Werchesfield, Wcrcsfield, 
Westerfield, Witersfield, Wydersfeld, Wydrysfylde, etc. Some of the 
above would more nearly indicate a wolf-field than a wether-field. That 
there was no local reason why a name suggestive of flocks of sheep was 
adopted, is apparent from the fact that then there probably was not a 
sheep in the colony. What seems certain is, that the Wethersfield in 
Connecticut was named in honor of Wethersfield in England. In cer- 
tain physical aspects they resemble each other, especially as to soil ; but 
there is no such close likeness between the two places as to call for the 
naming of the later village from the earlier one. The writer suggests 
that John Clarke (or Gierke, as the name is written in some docu- 
ments), who was one of the pioneer settlers of the ))lantation, may have 
been the Dr. John Clerke who inherited the manor of Wethersfield 
about 1629, or his son or nephew. It was a nephew of the same 

name who succeeded to the 
inheritance. The Wethers- 
licld (Conn.) John Clarke 
(who removed to Quinnipiac 
in 1638) was a very important 
man in the colony, and he 
may have had the naming of 
the township in 1637. Again, 
the wife of Leonard Chester is said liy some to have been Mai-y, the 
daughter of Nicholas Sharpe ; but Dr. Bond believes that she was 
Mary Nevill.' If so, she probably was a descendant of Sir Hugh de 
Neville, " Lord of Wethersfield ; " and when the young " gentleman," 
Leonard Chester, and his wife made their home in the wilderness, where 

1 But see Savage's Genealogical Dictioiiaiv, and Leoiiaiil Cliestci'.s will, not known to Dr. 
Bond. — T. 



imml 





WKTIIKKSKIKLD. 455 

llu-ir lirst child. .loliii. was burn (probably tiic first white jktsoii born 

in till' plantation), tin- tec of part of the "/</ WutherslioUi still rcniuinfil 

in the Xc'\illc I'aniilv : and so ^ 

III w Wethcrslicld may havL- been ^ iCHn 

named in honor of Mrs. Clies- ^^^^^"^ '''i^ 

ter. The reader can take these ^"''^ 

eonjocturcs for what they are 

worth. 

It is probable that amonn' the first acts of the new settlement was the 
laying out of the public si|uarc, by the meetinjr-housc. It included 
the land wliereon stands the house of Levi (Joodwin, lately deceased, 
the Demin<i' house next north, the old riershom Nott (now Shepardson) 
house southeast, and the Latimer (now Martin (jriswold's) house; also 
the area of part of the present buryiug-ground. 

At about the same time home-lots were set out in the village plot, 
on both sides of Broad and High streets (as far north, on the latter, 
as the Common), the west side of Main Street (then called Rose 
Lane), the northeast side of Sandy Lane, the west side of Bell Lane, 
part of the north side of Fort (now Prison) Street, and Meadow 
Bow, which adjoined the Common on the east. Broad Street has been 
made much narrower, especially at its north end, where several house- 
lots have since been sold by the town. 

The next step, perhaps, was the setting out of the land in the (Jreat 
Meadow, and on the Island, in severalty. Thirty-four men shared in 
these lands. The average area corres})onded very nearly with that 
of the homesteads. Upland was next divided up, — that is, such as 
adjoined the village on the west ; and here the rule was to give to each 
"proprietor" what was called a " four-fold " amount, based upon the 
numbei- of acres each recipient had in the meadow. This was the 
minimum ; but many, by purchase of " rights," obtaineil much larger 
areas. These npland lots were probably assigned and dehned in 1637 
and 1G38. There was a primary division of land into '• Fields," of 
which there were four, — the Furthest AVest, the Little West, the Great 
West, and the South fields. The Furthest West field was bounded 
north by Ilartfonl south line, east by the road to Hartford, south by 
the "road to the country" (now Jordan Lane), west by the ridge 
where the Wyllys Welles house is. It had one tier of lots, ranging 
north and south. The Little West field was a tier of lots, ranging 
north and south, on the south side of Jordan Lane. The Great West 
licld was bounded north by the Little West field ; cast by the road to 
Hartford in ]iart, and partly by the homesteads on the west sides of 
Main Street and Bell Lane, the "path to the mill," and the South 
Held ; west by the Wilderness. It contained one tier of lots, ranging 
cast and west, and being each one and one half miles long. Its far- 
thest lot south was that of Leonard Chester, where the grist-mill is. 
The South field was bounded north in part by the Great Plain, the 
village-plot, and the Great West field ; east by Fearful Swamp and the 
lower meadow. It seems to have included land to the south and west 
to an indefinite extent in the Wilderness. The "lots" were taken up 
later in this field than in the others mentioned. 

In 10o9 there was a general division of lands called the Xaubuc 
Farms, on the cast side of tln' river, beginning at Hartford's .mmib line 



456 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

north, and extending south as far as the vicinity of Roaring Brook. 
The lots were each three miles long, east and west. The writer has 
prepared a list of the original holders of these long lots, but lack 
of space compels its omission here. Some received very large tracts. 
Clement Chaplin had 1,200 acres ; William Swaync, Gentleman, had 
435 acres, which afterward became CTOvernor Thomas Welles's ; Leon- 
ard Chester had 432 acres ; Matthew Mitchell had 900 acres. 

Between this time and 1G70 there were laid out most of the lands 
in the Gi-eat, Beaver, and Mile meadows. Fearful Swamp, West Swamp 
(now- Hog Meadows), the South Field far toward Rocky Hill, besides 
additional homesteads. About 1650 the road to Mattabesett, through 
the east side of Rocky Hill, had been opened through the woods. 

In 1670 there was a general allotment of land in the strip one mile 
wide, adjoining Farmington on the west. This strip afterward took 
the name of the Mile-in-Breadth. It was di\ided among such of the 
householders of Wethersfield as lived on the west side of the river. 
Each received a lot of fifty -two acres. There were seventy-six "house- 
holders " at this time ; some of whom, or their sons, removed to the 
Mile-in-Breadth, and thus came to be called the West Farmers. 

In 1673 the Five-Mile or Indian Purchase was obtained, it being 
the tract of thirty or more square miles described in an earlier part of 
this sketch. One hundred and fourteen " inhabitants " were taxed to 
pay for this great tract, comprising some five eighths of the ])rcsent 
township of Glastonbury. Prior to this some few Wethersfield people 
had built and occupied houses on the east side of the river. Thomas 
Edwards, son of John, the settler, was living at Hoccanum (in Weth- 
ersfield) in 1650, — perhaps ui 1648, — and he had Samuel Gardner for 
a neighbor. Down by Roaring Brook, at Nayaiig, Matthew MitclicU 
had a cow-pen in 1639 ; and he had a tenant living there in a •' cave- 
cellar " (a common form of a " house " in those days) to care for liis 
kine. These we estimate to have been the first settlers of Glastonbury ; 
but John Hollister, Jr., soon went from Wethersfield village to Nayaug. 
In Beckley Quarter, Sergeant Richard Beckley had obtained and was 
living upon his tract of three hundred acres there, bought from the 
Indians, in 1668. 

At Rocky Hill, Thomas Williams became a settler about 1670 ; as 
did Joseph Edwards and Joseph Smith, also. John Williams, son of 
Thon»as, had a house on the east side of the way to Bulkeley's mill 
(at Dividend) in 1684 ; and lie may have built it earlier, for he had 
received the land from his father several years before. Phillip Goffe's 
house had been built as early as 1655 ; but this was nearer to Wethers- 
field village than to the centre of Rocky Hill. Home-lots were taken 
in Rocky Hill at an earlier date than at Newington, — one, Samuel 
Boardman, Junior's, as early as 1655. All early settlers at Rocky 
Hill went from Wethersfield proi^er. 

At the West Farms, afterward known as Newington, house-lots 
were taken up in the ^■icinity of the saw-mill, in Pipe-stave Swamp, 
by Joseph Andrus (or Andrews), John Slead (or Slade), and Samuel 
Hunn, between 1682 and 1684. Ezekiel Buck, son of Emanuel, went 
thither. 

In 1605 another, jiroljably the fourth, genera! allotment of lands 
was made. In this case tlie town-lands were apportioned among the 



WICTIIKKSKIELD. 457 

resident tax-pavers in tlic ratio of half an aero per ponnil of tax as- 
sessed to each on the list of 1093. Five tiers of lots were made. One, 
of thirty-eijjjiit lots, was made adjoiniiifr Middlctuwn north line, the 
road to that place bonnding it east and the Mattabesett River west. 
The second tier lay next north, a twenty-rod hifj^hway separating the 
two. This contained lots 39 to 78 inclnsivc. Tlie third one, contain- 
ing lots from 79 to 87 inchisive, was on the north side of what is now 
Jordan Lane, continued. Hartford bounded it north, the Stedman 
homestead (Lieutenant John) cast, the Rev. Mr. Woodi)ridge's farm, 
in Newington, west. The fourth tier was at Cow Plain, afterward 
Ncwington. It contained lots numbered from 88 to 120 inclusive; it 
being bounded north by the third tier just described, east iiy undivided 
lands along the west slope of Cedar Mountain range, south by Middle- 
town, west by the hall'-mile-wide eonunon. The liftli tier, with lots 
127 to 165 inclusive, lay next north of the second one, a ten-rod high- 
■way separating it therefrom. In 175-1 another and final distribution 
of undivided lands was made. It was voted by a meeting of " pro- 
prietors," in accordance with the then recent constructiim of the 
law relating to the division of the public lands. Of these there were 
four hundred and thirty-six ; and the great residue of the public do- 
main was given to them in the jiroportion of one acre of land for each 
i-37 upon the tax-list of the recipient. This apportionment exhausted 
not only the "undivided lands," but also the commons, or public pas- 
tures for cattle and sheep. 

Within ten years after the settlement of Wethersfield was begun, 
Bi'oad, High, Main (at first Rose Lane and Bell Lane combined). Fort 
(now State or Prison), Short (now Marsh) streets, and the street lead- 
ing to Hartford by Sandy Lane, were laid out by the town for public 
travel. So also were Fletcher Lane (connecting Main with the middle 
of Broad Street), Watering Lane (now Back Lane or Garden Street), 
Jordan Lane (then the "road to the country "), Mud Lane (then the 
" path to the mill "), the Plain Lane, Carpenter's Lane (running 
southeast from Broad Street), and several roads in tlie Great or Upper 
Meadow ; also a road the length of the Island. These, like most of 
those afterward laid out, were taken from land belonging to the town 
itself, and not from private owners. The fee of the soil of such roads 
still remains in the town. The road to Rocky Hill, at the foot of 
the eastern slope of the elevation to which the place owes its name, 
was opened in 1().^0. This was part of the first road to Mattabesett; 
but in 16G1 an<ither road, up and over the hill, existed, as far at 
least as Dividend. 

In 1671 was laid out the first road in Newington, then called the West 
Farms. It was eight rods wide, extending east and west across the 
Mile-in-Breadth. It went west from the corner south of the homestead 
now or lately of J. S. Rowley. The old road to New Haven, via West 
Rocky HilL was established in 1673. In the same year a road up 
the hill, northwesterlv from Rocky Hill landing, was provided. 

At Naubuc Mr. Nathaniel Foote, aljout 1640, reserved a roadway 
two rods wide through his tlirec-mile lot. In 1674, by order of the 
General Court, a highway across the Naubuc lots, eight rods in width, 
was laid out, — from Hartford on the north to Nayaug, now South 



458 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Glastonbury, on the south. This was the first road of importance laid 
out across pi'ivate lands. New London road is first mentioned in 
1674. The Saw-Mill Path, being the road from Wethersfield to Pipe- 
stave Swamp (now northern Newington) through what is Welles 
Quarter, is mentioned in 1680, two years after the setting up of the 
saw-mill which gave it its name. In this same year the middle road 
to Rocky Hill was laid out. In 1686 Windmill (or Wolcott) Hill road, 
was laid out, across the tier of onc-and-one-half-mile lots, which com- 
posed the Great West field. The General Court ordered the opening 
of this road, which was the first one on the west side of the river not 
opened by the town itself. In 1684 the town directed the la3--out of 
the road from Nayang to Middletown, along the east bank of the river. 
The long north-and-south road in Newington, about a mile east of Farm- 
ington line, was laid out in 1686. It was twelve rods wide. Many of 
the roads opened prior to 1690 have not been noticed here, for want of 
space. The main road, north and south, through Newington, originally 
twelve rods wide, was reserved from the town lands at the time of the 
allotment of 1694-1695. The macadamizing of most of the main 
thoroughfare has been effected within the past ten years. The first 
arched bridge of stone was that known as the " Folly," built in 1846. 

Out of the great body of wilderness sections were set apart as 
"stated commons," usually commons of pasture for cattle or sheep, — • 
swine being allowed to run in the wilderness. But the earliest " stated 
common" in Wethersfield, probably established in the first year of the 
settlement, was destined not for pasturage merely, but also as a com- 
mon for fishery, turbary, and as a public landing-place or water-side. 
It was originally bounded by the river (now the cove) on the north ; 
Meadow Row (upper end of Iligh Street), east; the tier of home-lots 
on the north side of Fort Street, south ; and the bend in the river, and 
Peiniywise, west. A remnant of it still exists as town-land, and the 
vicinity retains its old title of the Common. 

In the early years of the settlement the cattle were placed under 
charge of herders, or coiv-kee'pers. Richard Belden was chosen by 
the town in 1647 as its herder, and he was required to care for twelve- 
score of cows and oxen. He was allowed to depasture them in the 
wilderness. In 1648 four cow-keepers were placed in charge of the 
" towne heards." They were particularly enjoined to guard them from 
the wolves. The herders went from house to house blowing a horn, 
and upon this warning the people turned out their cattle to them. 
There were two herds ; one of which was kept " toward Hartford 
bounds," and the other below the South Field, in Rocky Hill. 

In 1674 a common of one thousand acres was established at Rocky 
Hill, for sheep and cattle. At this time there were shepherds chosen 
by the town. Sergeant John Kilbourn and Mr. Josiah Willard held 
this office in 1674. In 1683 a common, bounded northerly by the 
" short lots " on the south side of Jordan Lane, easterly l)y the ridge 
next west of Wolcott Hill, southerly by the Collier Road, west by Hog 
Meadows, was established. In 1686 it was enlarged on the west side by 
extension to Cedar Mountain, so as to make it amount to twelve hun- 
dred acres. This was for both sheep and cattle. In 1694 the last 
common was established. It was six miles in length and half a mile 
in breadtli ; bounded north by Hartford, east by a tier of lots on the 



WETHERSFIELD. 459 

west siilo of Collar Mi)uiit;uii, soutli liy Middlctnwn, wost l)y llio Milc- 
in-Breadtli. This <fiva( i-oiiimon of i)astiiraf^e was jjrobal)!}' the occa- 
sion of tlie title of Cow J'laiu, as ajiplieil to a larfjc part of what 
afterward was called Newiiii>ton. In 1754 the commons were divided 
up amont;; individuals, and none have since been estalilished. 

The iirst public lauding-iilacc was along that side of the common 
adjoininji the river, now the Cove. At present it is mostly a lishing- 
place. In 1674 a public landing was established by the town at 
Rocky Hill. Five acres of land were reserved for the purpose, it 
being specially provided that it might also be used for a shii)-vard. 
This lauding has remained in use to this day. The Wethcrsfield land- 
ing of to-day is the last of a series in the same vicinity, which was 
begun with Latimer's wliarf, probably a hundred years ago. The 
Steamboat wharf is the property of the Wethcrsfield Wharf Company, 
organized in 1800. 

There is no record evidence to show when and where the fii-st ferrv 
was established. In 1674 Richard Smith, Jr., was authorized bv 
tlie town "to keepe a Ferry over the (Jreat River in New London 
road." It is proljable tliat he had kept this ferry before, and that his 
license was granted mainly to enable him to keep a tavern ; for in 
it was included permission to entertain strangers and travellers. 
This ferry was kept in the Smith family for several generations, and 
Pratt's ferry, long since discontinued, was its latest successor. Daniel 
Pratt began to keep it in 1762, or earlier. 

A ferry, first kept by Richard Keney in 1712, and hence known as 
Keney's, has been at times maintained near the north end of the town, 
.^amuel Buck kept it in 1753. After a discontinuance of many years, 
it was revived in 1848, pursuant to order of the county court, but 
was abandoned after a few years. At Rocky Hill a ferry has probably 
been kept since 1650. Wethcrsfield votcnl in that year to lay out the 
highway to the landing on the west side of the river, and also the road 
to Nayaug Farms, directly opposite, on the east side. Jonathan Smith, 
in 1724, is the first keeper of it whose name the writer finds. The old 
ferry-boats were proi)elled by sweeps; that of 1848 by a cable of wire 
or rojie. Recently, that at Rocky Hill was worked by horses ; for some 
twenty years past, steam-power has been used. 

The oldest place of sepulture — and indeed the only one within the 
present limits of the township — is in the rear of the Congregational 
church. Originally it included only the crown of the hill, its eastern 
slope, and a part of its western. It was a plot abutting the then great 
public sijuare on the west. This burying-ground was the projierty of 
tiie town. In tlie mean time the town sold ])art of the juiblic sc|uare 
to individuals : so that in 1736, to enlarge the cemeteiy, land had to 
be bought of Nathaniel Burnham on the west and south. By this addi- 
tion the area of the enclosure was nearly doubled. The added laud 
was granted to the First Society, but in reality the town jiaid for it by 
giving Mr. Burnham land of its own in exchange therefor. The same 
society has since, by purchase, thrice enlarged the cemetery. The latest 
extension was made in 1881, by the purchase of the Marsh (formerly 
Burnham) homestead. 

The oldest existing monument in this ground is that of Leonard 



460 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Chester, in 1648 ; but liis was not the first interment therein. Bran- 
dish, Ireland, Kilbourn, Mason, and some others, died earlier. In this 
cemetery, as in others, few monuments were set prior to 1712. Only 
three are to be found here earlier than 1700. 

The buryiug-ground at Beckley Quarter was opened in 1760. Daniel 
Beckley, Jr., who died March 4, 1760, was the first whose remains 
were buried there. This is now in Berlin township. 

At Rocky Hill a burying-ground was laid out on Cole's Hill in 
March, 1731. It was voted by the town of Wethersfield for the use of 
Stepney parish, and its area was one and one fourth acres. This, with 
its additions, is the only cemetery in Rocky Hill. 

The beautiful cemetery at Cedar Hill, established in 1864, is mostly 
in Wethersfield. It is, however, a Hartford institution, and hence we 
omit further notice of it here. 

Taverns were more numerous and of more importance formerly than 
now. There have been times since the Revolution when there were 
three or four taverns within the present narrow limits of Wethersfield. 
Now there is none, — the well-remembered May's Hotel having been 
the last. The first public house may have been kept by John Saddler, 
on the west side of High Street, on land he bought of Samuel Clarke 
in 1642, or earlier. It seems to have been a tavern in 1648. Richard 
Smith, Jr., the ferryman, had a tavern in 1675 on tlie New London 
road, at the Naubuc terminus of the ferry. John Belden was chosen 
" ordinary keeper " at a town-meeting the same year. He had a house 
on each side of Broad Street, but the ordinary was probably in that on 
the east side. Mr. John Devotion was licensed, in 1713, to keep a 
" house of entertainment." Benjamin Belden was also licensed the 
following year. In 1717 Corporal John Francis was licensed to be 
" tavern-keeper." 

In 1781, wlicn Washington and his military associates had their 
conference in Wethersfield, Stillman's Tavern — wliich stood until a 
few years ago where the house of Deacon R. A. Robbins is — was the 
principal public house in the place; and in it the distinguished company 
was part of the time entertained. 

The first indication of the comparative wealth of tlie three river 
plantations is to be found in an order of the General Court in 1639, 
when tiie sum of £100 to be raised was apportioned among them as fol- 
lows: Hartford, £43 ; Windsor, £28 6s. 8d.; Wethersfield, £28 13s. 4c;.: 
total, £100. At the same time the men subject to military duty were 
apportioned as follows : Hartford, 17 men ; Windsor, 13 men ; Weth- 
ersfield, 10 men ; 40 men in all. It thus appears that while Wethers- 
field ranked second in wealth, she ranked third in population. In 
1658 the ratio of " persons and estates" was as follows: Hartford, — 
persons, 187; estates, £20,547. Windsor, — persons, 160; estates, 
£16,209. Wethersfield, — persons, 103 ; estates, £12,397. 

As between Wethersfield and Windsor, the population of the latter, 
within the old lines, has continued to be one third or more greater than 
that of the former within its old lines. Omitting Beckley Quarter, — 
now in Berlin, and a corner of Marlborough, — the inhaliitants within 
tlie old lines of Wethersfield, in 1880, numbered 8,796 ; those within the 



WETHERSFIELD. 461 

old Windsor lines, 12,400. In this estimate Sirasburv is not accounted 
as ever a part of Windsor. If we take the present townships of Wind- 
sor and Wethcrsficld, we shall find abont the same ratio of population. 
The earliest census that the writer has found of Wetliersfield by 
parishes is that of the year 1779. Comparing that with the census of 
the same sections as towns, in 1880, we obtain the following results of 
one hundred years' growth : — 

Wctlierstii'ld First Society (now town of Wethersfiekl) 
Stepney Society (now town of Rocky Hill) .... 
Isewiugton Societj' (now town of Xowington) . . 
Beckley Quarter (now iu Berlin) 



1779. 


1880. 


1,910 


2,17.3 


881 


1,109 


508 


934 


278 


(say) 300 



Total 3,577 4,516 

In 1756 Wethersfield's population was 2,483. If to this he added 
Glastonbury's (1,115), we have 3,598, as the number of inhabitants 
then within the old limits of the township. The whole number at that 
time within Hartford town.ship — whose limits included the present 
towns of West Hartford, East Hartford, and Manchester — was 3,027 ; 
showing that ancient Wethersfiekl was then, numerically considered, 
the more important of the two towns. 

Of the five members of the first session of the (rcneral Court, Af)ril 
26, 1636, one, Andrew Ward, was from Wethersfiekl. In Se|)teniber, 
of the same year, William Swayne, Gentleman, was added, when the 
whole number was six. In 1637, when the General Court was divided 
into an up])er and a lower section, the two gentlemen above named 
became meml)ers of the ujiper section, — and hence may be said to have 
been the first members of what would now be called the Senate, from 
Wethersfiekl. When, in 1637, the lower branch of the (icneial Court 
was constituted, its members were called Committees. Those for 
Wethersfiekl for that year were Mattliew Jlitchell and John Sherman. 

In April, 1639, at the first General Court after the adoption of a con- 
stitution, Wetliersfield had four committees: Thurston Raynor, James 
Bosey, George Hubbard, and Richard Crabbe. From this time until 
1662 — when the charter limited the number to two from each town 
— she generally sent four persons to the lower house; and no other 
town sent so large a number, excepting occasionally Hartford and Wind- 
sor. In 1640 Wethersfield's deputies, as members of the lower house 
were then called, composed one third of the whole. Under the char- 
ter, Samuel Boardman and John Nott became, in 1663, the first two 
deputies from Wetliersfield. Under our constitution, Ezekiel Porter 
Belden and Levi Lusk were, in 1819, the first two representatives. 

The first Constable in Wethersfiekl was Daniel Finch, a])pointed 
by the General Court in 1636. So far as appears, he was the first one 
in tile colony. 

Who were the first Townsmen — or, as we now call them. Select- 
men — cannot be ascertained. The first of whom there is any record 
were those of 1646-1647; namely Robert Parke, Jolin Deming (Sr. ), 
Thomas Coleman, Nathaniel Dickinson, and probaidy Richard Treat, 
Sr. It is (piite likely tliat Samuel Smith and Nathaniel Dickinson were 
in the first board. Townsmen were annuallv elected until 1()S2. But 



462 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

in the years 1666, 1667, 1679, and 1681, Selectmen ^vere also elected ; 
and some of them were different men from the Townsmen. This 
shows, that in Wethersfield, at least, the two offices were not exactly 
the same. 

Commissioners, whose functions were analogous to those of justices 
of the peace, were appointed by the General Court. The first for 
Wethersfield was Governor Thomas Welles, in 1659. Another kind of 
commissioners, to collect internal revenue, was provided for by the 
Andros Government, at Boston, in 1687. Wethersfield obeyed the 
" Usurper's " law, and in 1688 chose Samuel Butier, Sr., and in 1689 
Lieutenant James Treat, commissioners for that town. 

Governor Andres's Council also provided for the office of Justice 
of the Peace in 1687. Of those commissioned for Hartford County the 
famous Rev. Gershom Bulkeley, one of Andros's most ardent supporters, 
and John Chester, Esq., were of Wethersfield. In 1698 Connecticut's 




General Assembly commissioned Captain John Chester and Lieutenant 
James Treat to be the first justices for Wethersfield. The former was 
designated as justice of the quorum ; thus constituting him a " side 
judge " of the county court. 

The first recorder (or town clerk), whose name is preseiwed, was 
Matthew Mitchell, in 1640. But the General Court, unjustly, as it 
seems, removed him from office. Thereupon Nathaniel Dickinson was 
chosen, and held the office until his removal to Hadley, in 1659. 

Freemen, by the Fundamental Articles of 1639, were tliose who 
having been admitted as " inhabitants," by " the major part of the 
Towne wherein they live," and having taken the " oath of Fidellity," 
might vote in the election of deputies to the General Court. There 
were fifty-eight freemen in Wethersfield in October, 1669. 

The members of the Continental CongTcss were elected at large, 
there having been at this time no districts. Wethersfield furnished for 
it in 1774 and 1775* Silas Deane. In 1783-1784, 1785-1786, 1786- 
1787, 1787-1788, and 1788-1789, she furnished Stephen Mix Mitchell ; 
and in 1787-1788, and 1788-1789, Colonel John Chester. The last 
named did not attend. 

To the LTnited States Congress Wethersfield contributed for senator, 
1793-1795, Judge Stephen Mix Mitchell. Chauncey Goodrich, senator, 
1807-1813, did not live in Wethersfield ; but his father was the Rev. 
Elizur Goodrich, D.D., of that place. Both Chauncey and his brother 
Elizur were representatives to Congress, 1799-1801. Judge Thomas 
Scott Williams, of Wethersfield, was a representative, 1817-1819. 

To the Connecticut Convention to ratify the National Constitution, 
in 1788, the delegates from Wethersfield were Judge Stephen Mix 
Mitchell and Colonel John Chester. To the convention which framed 
the State Constitution in 1818 her delegates were Judge Mitchell and 
General Levi Lusk. Excepting Thomas Welles, 1655-1656 and 1658- 
1659, no governor has been taken directly from this township. 



WETHERSFIELD. 4C3 

The following members of the .Supreme Court have come from 
Wcthorsfickl : Stephen Mix Mitchell, 17S4-17!i3 and 1807-1.^14, hein<j 
chief judge clurinjjrtho latter term: .lulm Clicster, 17«8-17'J2 and 1803- 
1807 ; Thomas Scott Williams, 1«29-1847, being chief judge, 1834-1847 ; 
Tliomas iJclden Butler, 18G1-1873, being chief judge, 1870-1873, tlic 
time of his death. Besides these, Judges Chauncev Goodrich, 1802- 
1807, and Elizur Goodrich, 1803-1807, were sons of the Rev. Elizur 
Goodrich ; wlio, and whose long line of ancestors, rumiing bacii to 
1636, were Wethersfield people. 

Of the part taken by Wethersfield in the Indian campaign of 1637 
something has been said in our account of the Indians of and around 
that township. It remains to add some facts as to her early military 
organizations, and her part in subsequent wars and battles. 

In 1639 James Bosey was chosen by the General Court a military 
inspector in the colonial service. In 1645 lie was clerk of the trainband 
at Wethersfield, the earliest date at which that company is mentioned. 
John Ilollister, in 1657, was a lieutenant, — first of that title after 
Roliert Seeley. 

Samuel Welles, son of Governor Thomas Welles, was made an 
ensign in 1658, a lieutenant in 16G5, and a captain in 1670 ; the first 
one, so far as appears, of the trainband. John Chester was Captain 
Welles's lieutenant, elected 1671. 

In 1653 Wethersfield furnished eight of the sixty-five men raised 
" to make warr against the Dutch." In 1654 she sent six for the expe- 
dition against Ninigrot, the Xiantic chief. In March, 1675, the " pali- 
sado," in the centre of the town, was constructed under the direction 
of Mr. Samuel Talcott, Lieutenant John Chester, Ensign William Good- 
rich, Mr. James Treat, and Mr. Eleazx'r Kimberly. The exact position 
of this defensive work we are miable to give ; but it was probably 
a little east of what is now known as the Frederick Butler house, on 
High Street. 

In the great Fort Fight, Dec. 19, 1675, with the Narragansetts, at 
South Kingston, Rhode Island, Major Robert Treat, of Milford, after- 
ward governor, son of Richard Treat, Sr., of Wethersfield, was in com- 
mand of the Connecticut section, and second in command of the united 
forces. The forces raised in Hartford County (ii>cluding Middletown) 
were one hundred and ten men ; and of these, Wetherslield furnished 
twenty-three men. She also contributed, in the person of the Rev. 
Gershom Bulkeley, the surgeon and chajdain for the Connecticut section. 
Among the Wethersfield combatants were the following: Lieutenant 
Jolm Steadman, killed. He commanded the Hartford County Dragoons. 
He lived in what is now Jordan Lane. Corporal Samuel Martin, of 
the dragoons, earned a lieutenancy and a bounty of two hundred acres 
of land. Captain Samuel Welles was there, as ap]>ears from written 
instructions to iiim from the Council of War at Hartford. He com- 
manded the Wethersfield trainband. It is probalde that his lieutenant, 
John Chester, was there also. Among the sergeants of the trainband, 
it is nearly certain that Hugh Welles and John Wyatt were in the 
engagement. The latter was promoted ensign. Thomas Hollister, son 
of Lieutenant John, in all probability was present, and earned there 
the lieutenancy to which he was promoted. He lived on the west 



404 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

side of Broad Street, but removed shortly afterward to tlie east side of 
the river. Corporal John Edwards, son of John the settler, was killed. 
The Rev. Gershom Bulkeley, surgeon, was exhausted with the care of 
the injured men. The General Court voted to assist in supplying the 
Wethersfield [inlpit during his absence therefrom. Lieutenant Samuel 
Talcott (brother of Major John Taleott) was occupied as a member 
of the Council of War. Private Jonathan Colefax, son of William, was 
wounded. 

There were other campaigns in which Wethersfield men took part. 
Two men were sent in August, 1675, to Captain Bull's garrison at 
Saybrook ; twelve went to Captain Pynchon's command against the 
Nipmucks at Quabaug, near Brookfield, Mass. ; twenty were with the 
battalion of dragoons operating in central Massachusetts ; ten men 
were in Major Treat's command at Northampton, Westlield, and Hat- 
field, in September. All these returned to engage in the Fort Fight. 
The victory of the Fort Fight, decisive as it was, did not at once 
bring peace ; for Philip was still at large and unsubdued. In January, 
1676, ten men, out of fifty-six raised in the county, were sent from 
Wethersfield to General Winslow's command, in Rhode Island, for 
service against the remnant of Philip's warriors. Mr. Bulkeley accom- 
panied them. In February, 1676, eighty men from Hartford County 
were despatched to the Narragansett country, where Major John Tal- 
cott was operating; sixteen of the soldiers were from Wethersfield. 
It was at this time that William Hills was shot at by Indians in the 
Hoccanum meadows. Indians were " skulking " in the highway from 
Hartford to Wethersfield, and had waylaid and killed John Kirby, Jr., 
in tlie road between Wethersfield and Middletown. In the following 
March several houses in Wethersfield were fortified. Tunxis (Farm- 
ington) Indians were, or were believed to be, hostile ; and Wethersfield 
believed itself to be beset with danger at the hands of the Red men. 

Early in May, 1676, one hundred men of Hartford County were 
ordered to the relief of Hadley. Of these, twenty-one were from 
Wethersfield, at the head of whom was Lieutenant Thomas Hollister. 
There they met the minister of the place, the Rev. John Russell, who, 
at Wethersfield, had formerly been their pastor ; also, Lieutenant 
Philip Smith and others, formerly fellow-townsmen. On the 20th, out 
of eighty men sent to Captain Newberry's command at Northampton, 
twenty were from Wethersfield. In August Lieutenant Hollister, with 
ten men, was sent to Pacomtock (Deerfield) to search for arms said by 
the prisoner Menowniett to have been concealed there. 

Philip was killed on the 12th of August ; but there was still anxiety 
on the part of the settlers. In November Lieutenant Hollister let ten of 
the Indians he had brought in from " the swamp " return to Moheag, 
near Montville ; the rest were sold as slaves, by order of Major Talcott. 

In consequence of the massacre of Sept. 19, 1677, at Hatfield, help 
was urgently called for, and fifty men were at once raised in Hartford 
County and sent thither. Wethersfield's quota was fourteen men, and 
Ensign John Wyatt accompanied them. 

It is proper, in our account of Wethersfield's part in the memorable 
Philip's War, to record the part taken therein by her sons who had, in 
1659 and subsequently, removed to Hadley, Hatfield, and vicinity. 

Mr. Russell had conducted much of the military correspondence of 



WETHERSFIELD. 465 

the colonial officers. According to some historians, he had also har- 
bored the rciricidcs Goll'e and Whallcy. Others, Mr. Judd among (he 
number, say that these f ngitivcs were kept at the liou.scs of Peter Tilton 
and Lieutenant Samuel Smith. The latter gentleman had been one uf 
the original settlers of Wethersfield, and for many years a most influen- 
tial civil officer there. His son, Lieutenant Philip Smith, was now living 
in Hadiey, and rendered great service in the struggles witii the Indians. 
Richard Montague, from Wethersfield, at Hadley, baked the biscuit for 
the soldiers of the campaigns. Nathaniel Dickinson, the old town clerk 
of Wetiiersfield, was, with most of his sons, now living in Iladley. Of 
ills sons, born and brougiit up in Wetherslield, Obadiah had his house 
burnt by the savages, and he, with a child of his, was carried captive 
to Canada. Returning thence, he soon after removed to his old home 
in Wetiiersfield. Joseph was killed in the figiit at Scpiakheag (North- 
field), Sejit. 5, 1675. lie was then living at Northlicld. Nehemiah 
was in the Falls (Turner's) fight, May 19, 1670. John was one of 
the sergeants at tlie Falls fight. Azariah, the youngest son, was killed 
in a fight near Hadley, Aug. 25, 1675. The people of Wethersfield 
should remember with pride the part taken in the war of 1675-1677 
by tliis family, many of whose descendants arc in that townsiiip and 
Rocky Hill at this day. 

Sergeant Isaac Graves and his brother John, both of whom were 
killed in the fight at Hatfield, Sept. 19, 1677, had been residents of 
Wethersfield. Jolin was a citizen of some importance, living on the 
cast side of Broad Street. They were sons of Thomas, of Hartford. 
Jonathan AVellcs and iiis brother Thomas, Jr., of Ueerfield and Had- 
ley, respectively, with tlieir father, were in the Falls fight, and Thomas 
was wounded. Seventeen years later, in 1693, two danghtcrs of 
Thomas were killed by the Indians ; his wife and a third daughter 
were scalped and left for dead. Noah Coleman, son of Thomas, also 
in the Falls fight, had emigrated from Wethersfield to Hadley. John 
Smitli, of Hadley, bora and reared in AVetherslield, was a son of Lieu- 
tenant Samuel. He was in the Falls fight, and was slain eleven days 
later in Hatfield meadow. Peter Jloiitague, who had removed to Had- 
ley was in tlie Falls light. Samuel Belden, son of Richard, of Weth- 
ersfield, was living in Hatfield, Aug. 19, 1677; and in the attack of 
that date his wife was killed. John Coleman, brother of Noah above- 
mentioned, lost his wife and a bal)c at the same time. And so the 
disasters at these river settlements of Massaciiusetts were largely a 
source of bereavement to the older one at Wethersfield. 

Thomas Hollistcr was lieutenant of the '• trooj) " for Hartford 
County. In that capacity he commanded forty men (fifteen each fi-om 
Hartford and Windsor, and ten from Wethersfield) in an expedition to 
Northampton and Hadley, in October, 1677. 

Andros's journey from Boston to Hartford in October, 1687, to 
possess himself of the colony's charter, took him {via New London, 
probably) through Wethersfield. He, with iiis "gentlemen and grena- 
diers," about sixty in number, cros.sed at what was then Smith's ferry, 
which connected New London road with Wethersfield village, being 
the same ferry last known as Pratt's. This road jiasses the ui)per end 
of Broad Street ; and it was here, or at tlie ferry, that Aiulros was met 
by the troop, which escorted him to Hartford. The Rev. tJershom 

VOL. II. — 30. 



466 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Bulkeley informs us that the meeting took place at the ierrj. He also 
tells us that " the trained bands of divers towns had waited there some 
part of the week before [October 31], expecting his coining then." It 
is probable that no man in the colony welcomed him more cordially 
than did Mr. Bulkeley. 

In June, 1689, Wethersficld had, for the first time, two trainbands. 
In September of that year they were officered as follows : South 
(Broad Street) Company, John Chester, captain ; John Buttolph, 
lieutenant; John Chester, Jr., ensign. North (High Street) Company, 
Robert Welles (grandson of Governor Thomas), captain; William 
Warner, lieutenant ; Samuel Butler, ensign. Thomas Hollister was 
lieutenant of Captain Dennison's volunteers for Hartford and New 
London counties. Captain Samuel Talcott was in command of the dra- 
goons in June, 1690, at Deerfield, at the outbreak of King William's 
War. In October, 1692, Stephen Hollister, brother of Thomas, was 
made lieutenant of the dragoons ; Samuel Talcott (son of Captain 
Samuel), cornet; and Joshua Welles (son of Thomas, the son of 
Hugh), ensign. This company was, the same month, sent to Albany, 
for service against the Indians of that vicinity, then threatening Massa- 
chusetts. In the following ilareh (or June), 1693, Lieutenant Stephen 
Hollister was in Captain Wliiting's picked company of sixty-four men, 
in the expedition to Deerfield, Mass., remaining several months. In 
October, 1696, he commanded the special detachment of forty men, 
sent from Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield, to Hadley. In Sep- 
tember, 1696, Daniel Belden (son of William, of Wethersfield), with 
a son, Nathaniel, and a daughter, Esther, was seized and carried away 
by Indians, at Deerfield. His wife was killed, as were three of his 
children. 

Perhaps the last movements in this war in which a part was taken 
by Wethersfield were in the expedition to Albany, in October, 1696. 
Sergeant Jonathan Colfax, with the Wethersfield quota, joined Colonel 
Fletcher's command of sixty men. In June, 1697, Lieutenant Stephen 
Hollister was sent, with fifty men under Captain Whiting, to Massa- 
chusetts, where they remained until October. 

In May, 1698, Wethersfield was divided into two military precincts, — 
the first within the township for any purpose. The line separating the 
two trainbands was identical with that now dividing the Broad Street 
and High Street school districts. John Chester, son of Captain John, 
who had died in 1698, at this time commanded the First, or Broad 
Street company, and Robert Welles (probably) the Second, or High 
Street. 

In 1703, when colonial operations began in Queen Anne's War, 
Captain Chester was jjromoted to be sergeant-major for Hartford 
county. Joshua Bobbins succeeded him as captain, Jonathan Board- 
man becoming lieutenant and Jonathan Belden ensign. Thomas Welles 
was captain of the Second company, Benjamin Churchill lieutenant, 
and William Goodrich, son of Ensign William, ensign. Captain Welles 
had succeeded Captain Robert Welles, " i-eleased," in 1701. In 
Feliruary, 1704, occurred the horrible massaci-e at Deerfield. In the 
following May the Hartford County dragoons, sixty men, were sent 
into Hampshire County. In this expedition David Goodrich, of Weth- 
ersfield, went as a lieutenant. Cai)tain Jonathan Welles, son of Thomas 



TVETHERSFTELD. 407 

Welles. 2d, of Wetlierslield. tlieii living at Dferficld, was in comntiind 
of forees there. 

Ill October, 1705, two Wetlierslield men, Samuel Wolcott and James 
Steele, were made captain and lientenant. respectively, of the Hartford 
County drajioons. in -May, ITOD, troops to the nninlxM- of three hun- 
dred and fifty men were sent from ("onnectient to Canada, 'i'hey went, 
however, no farther tiian Albany and Wood Creek. At the latter place 
they were encamped tiiroujih the summer and autumn of ITOil, and 
uinety men were lost. Captain David Coodrich was hotJi adjutant and 
rpiarterraaster for the campaign. Captain Stephen IloUister, a valiant 
lighter, whom we have mentioned as lieutenant, died in the camp 
at (ireenliusli. 

In October, 1710, Colonel Whiting's command, numbering three 
hundri'd men, was employed in the reduction of P(n't Royal (now 
Annapolis), Nova Scotia. In the capture of this im|iortant point 
Wethersfield did its share. It ap])ears that the First Coni])any, under 
Captain Joshua Robiiins, was tluu-e ; certainly, Jonathan Belden, its 
lieutenant, was present. One Wethersfield man, Daniel Riley, was 
seriously wounded. Only aljout forty men were lost (twenty-six by 
drowning) in all the attacking forces. 

In August, 1711, three hundred and sixty men from Connecticut, 
under Colonel Whiting, went to Albany. Captain Thomas Welles^ 
commanded the Wethersfield company of volunteers. He was at that 
time captain of the High Street (Sec(md) company. Joseph Garrett 
was one of the Wethersfield sergeants engaged. In February, 1712, 
two Connecticut companies, provided with moccasons and snow-shoes, 
were despatched to a point thirty miles above Decrfield. One of these 
was commanded liy Captain David (roodrich. Perhaps it was at this 
time tiiat Martin Kellogg, of Wethersfield, was carried a captive to 
Canada. Tiie treaty of Utrecht ended this war in Octoljcr, 1712. 
In the mean time Major Chester had died, Dec. 14, 1711. Captain 
Robert Welles died June 22, 1714. Captain Thomas Welles, son of 
Captain Samuel, died Dec. 11, 1711. Lieutenant James Treat died 
in 1709. 

In October, 1722, a company was formed at Stepney parish for the 
first time. Its officers were William Warner, ca]itain ; Joshua Robbins, 
(son of Joshua), lieutenant: Samuel Smith (son of Joseph), ensign. 

In May, 1723, three companies were sent, under command of Major 
Joseph Talcott, of Hartford, into Hampshire County. One of these, 
numbering sixty men, was from Wethersfield, and commanded by Cap- 
tain David Goodrich, in February, 1724, he went north again : this 
time, probably, as far as Fort Dnmmer, near the present Brattle- 
borougli, then the only settlement in what is now Vermont. It is 
probaljle that Tiiomas Welles was his lieutenant and Samuel Wolcott 
his ensign. Goodrich remained in Massachusetts most of tin' time 
until the close of the war, in December, 1725. In this year he became 
colonel of the Hartford County forces : and had been a member of the 
Committee and Council of War from 1723. 

In 1726 Robert Welles, son of Captain Robert, was commissioned 
captain of the Hartford County dragoons. A trainband was now 

' 1 am uncertain wliich Captain Thomas Welles (there were two, cousins) this was. 



468 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

organized at Newington for the first time. Its captain was John Camp ; 
its lieutenant, Ephraim Deming ; and its ensign, Richard Boardman. 

In 1739 the militia of the colony was regularly organized for the first 
time. Thirteen regiments were formed. Wethersfield was included in 
the sixth regiment, with Middletown (then on both sides of the river), 
Glastonbury, and the parish of Kensington. Out of each regiment was 
organized one troop of sixty-four men. Thomas Welles, son of Cap- 
tain Robert, was the first colonel of the Sixth Regiment, John Chester 
its lieutenant-colonel, and Jabez Hamlin, of Middletown, its major ; 
Nathaniel Stillman and Josiah Griswold, both of Wethersfield, Avere 
the first captain and ensign, respectively, of the troop of the same 
regiment. 

We are unable to tell how many of the five hundred men from this 
colony, in the disastrous campaign of 1740-1741, against the Spanish 
West Indies, went from Wethersfield. 

In March, 174.5, Captain Elizur Goodrich, son of Colonel David, 
entered into the service of the " New England Army " under Lieutenant- 
General Pepperell. Louisburg, " strong as Barcelona," was taken in 
June, 1745, after a fifty days' siege ; and with it the island of Cape 
Breton fell into English hands. Captain Goodrich came back as lieu- 
tenant-colonel, July 1, 1746. The company he had taken out was one 
of eight forming the Connecticut regiment, all volunteers. Rector 
Elisha Williams, of Wethersfield, was chaplain of the Connecticut 
forces. The Rev. Simon Backus, of Newington, succeeded him, and 
died at Louisburg, March 16, 1746. When General Wolcott returned 
to New England, he left at New London the vessel which brought him ; 
thence he came overland via Lyme, Middletown, and Wethersfield ; 
whence, after stopping one day, he was escorted to his home in Wind- 
sor by Hartford and Wethersfield troops and civilians. 

Captain Martin Kellogg, of Wethersfield, was engaged in June, 1746, 
to be pilot for the expected British fleet in the St. Lawrence. In May, 
1751, he was sent as the colony's agent to Hendrick, chief of the 
Mohawks, to supply them with clothing, — as an inducement to their 
continuing in friendship with New England. Nearly forty years before, 
he had been for some years a captive among the French and Indians 
in Canada, where he had learned the languages of his captors. 

The peace following George tlie Second's War was destined to be 
but shortlived. As early as October, 1754, Colonel Elisha Williams, 
of Wethersfield, was sent to Boston to procure arms and war-supplies 
for a campaign of invasion. In May he was one of the three war 
commissioners sent to Albany to confer with commissioners from other 
colonies. In March, 1755, Connecticut's quota was fifteen hundred 
soldiers ; the whole to be in two regiments. One of these, the Second, 
was put under command of Colonel Elizur Goodrich, of Wethersfield ; 
and the whole were ordered to a position opposite to Crown Point. 
Three companies of Connecticut men were authorized to volunteer in 
the service and pay of New York. Of one of these, Josiah Griswold, 
of Wethersfield, was commissioned captain ; but it does not appear 
that he accepted. In August, two more regiments were ordered raised. 
In one of these, the Third, Wethersfield men did service ; and one 
at least, Matthias Smith, was seriously wounded. Another, Timothy 
Andrus, was pensioned for disability produced in this Crown Point 



WETHERSFIELD. 469 

campaign. Ebenezer Griswold was a second lieutenant and Christopher 
Palmer an cnsiirn, — l)oth of Wothorsliold. 

At this time (^175o) some four hundred French prisoners from Nova 
Scotia were quartered amonj^ the dill'eient towns, and Wetherslield's 
proportion was nine. They were placed in charge of Nicholas Ayrault, 
Samuel Curtis, and Joseph Boardman, and were allowed to work' about 
the village. In February, 1756, twenty-five hundred men were raised 
for Major-Ccneral William Shirley's command, to operate at Crown 
Point and Iroquois Lake. In this cam|)aigii several Wetherslield offi- 
cers i)artici|)ated ; among them, Eliphalet Whittelsey, captain of the 
Sixth Com])any in the Fourth Regiment. He remained in the service 
during the war. In tiie campaign of 17.")7, which resulted in the sur- 
render of Fort William Heni-y to Montcalm's forces, Cai)tain Wiiittelsey 
had the command of a picked company of one hundred men. In 
1758 Fort Edward was the base of operations and Ticonderoga the 
objective point. Wethersricld bore its part in this campaign. One 
of her citizens, .Josiah Griswold, was Jlajor of the First Regiment ; 
Whittelsey was ca]itain of a com])any in the same regiment ; Lieu- 
tenant llezekiah Smith and Ensign Josiah Wright were also there. 
Fort Froutenac, with its sixty cannon, together with nine armed ves- 
sels, fell into our hands. 

Among the Wethersfield officers in the campaign of 1759 were 
Captain Whittelsey, Lieutenant Josiah Ooodrich, and Ensign Roger 
Riley, all in the First Regiment. The general headquarters were at 
Fort Edward. Several Wetherslield num were buried there in June, 
1759; auK^ng them, Nathaniel Kirkham and Samuel Wright, both of 
Newington. This campaign was tlie most prosperous one for the 
English in the long contest known as the French and Lidiaii War. 
Niagara, Ticonderoga, Crown Point, and Quebec were won ; though 
at the sacrifice of the life of the gallant and distinguished General 
Wolfe. 

In the campaign of 17(50, in the First Regiment, were Captain 
Whittelsey, Lieutenant Goodrich, and Ensign Riley, already mentioned, 
and Ensign El)enezer Belden ; and it cannot be doubted that other 
oiliccrs were furnished from the same town. The last great work to 
be done was the capture of Montreal, which was effected in September. 
In ilarch, 1701, another and closing campaign was organized for 
Canada. This was to complete the conquest of that province. Con- 
necticut sent two regiments. Among the officers of the Second were 
Francis UoUi.ster and Jonathan Robbins, Jr., lieutenant and ensign 
respectively. 

Ill the Havana expedition (1762) were Lieutenants Francis HoUister 
and Samuel Wright. Hollister's company lost forty men out of a total 
of ninety. Wright's company lost thirty-seven men out of a total of 
ninety-one. Lieutenants Jt)siali Smith, llezekiah Smith, and Nehcmiah 
Dickinson (I am not certain that the latter was from Wetherslield), 
and Ensign Elisha lUinn .served in the northern campaign, mainly at 
Crown Point, the same year. Storms and disease worked fearful 
ravages in the Connecticut soldiery near the coast of Cuba, and Weth- 
ersfield lost many of her citizens in this disastrous campaign. 

The year 1763 witnessetl the close of both the Frencli and the 
Spanish wars, and the cession of all Canada to England. One of the 



470 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

most efficient men in the colony was Colonel John Chester, Sr. He 
was the father of Captain John Chester, who commanded the Wethers- 
field company at Bunker Hill. He was an assistant at the General 
Court during the whole war, and one of the three members of the 
committee of the pay -table of the army. 

How many French prisoners were quartered in Wethersfield we 
cannot say. In 1759 some of them were at Newington under charge of 
selectmen Martin Kellogg and Nathaniel Boardman. In 1762 the town 
built a house " near Howard's pond, for the use of the French family." 

Excepting certain episodes connected with attempts to enforce the 
Stamp Act, matters were pretty quiet in Wethersfield from this time 
until the Revolutionary epoch. There were now thirteen regiments in 
the colony, and Wethersfield was with Glastonbury and Middletown 
and Kensington parish, in the department of the sixth of these. It was 
commanded by John Chester, Sr. ; who, being of the blood of Governors 
Talcott and Welles, and a son of Major John Chester, may be supposed 
to have inherited a good degree of the military spirit so prominent in 
many of their descendants. It was in front of the house of Colonel 
Chester, on Broad Street, that the Sons of Liberty on the evening of 
Sept. 19, 1765, intercepted Stamp-Master Jared Ingersoll, of New 
Haven, on his way to Hartford, and compelled that officer, by potent 
arguments, to sign and seal a written resignation of his office. It is 
said that about five hundred men from Wethersfield and eastern towns 
were in the concourse of Ingersoll's interviewers ; and that each one 
carried a club of wood from which the bark had been peeled. The 
renunciatory document stated that he, Ingersoll, executed the instru- 
ment of his " own free will and accord, without any equivocation or 
mental reservation." He was also asked to swear to the truth of it. 
To this he demurred, when the crowd released him, iipon his thrice 
shouting the words, " Liberty and Property." The out-of-doors part of 
this demonstration was under the immense clm-trcc (Inunit down some 
twenty-five years ago) in front of Colonel Chester's : and the tavei'n in 
which the renunciation was signed stood a few rods north, and was 
destroyed by fire within the memory of people now living. Some, how- 
ever, say it was signed at the tavern on the east or opposite side of 
the street. 

The hostility of the people extended to other acts of the British 
Parliament besides those requiring the use of Stam]i Paper, imposing 
a duty on tea, etc. Among them was that passed in 1774, known as 
the Boston Port Bill, because of the destruction of tea in that harbor 
in the preceding December. Wethersfield sympathized heartily in Bos- 
ton's distress. At a meeting of her citizens at the brick meeting-house, 
June 16, 1774, at which Captain Thomas Belden presided, strong 
resolutions were passed. It was also resolved, " to the utmost of our 
power and influence " to encourage the proposed formation of a " Con- 
gress of the Colonies ; " and a committee consisting of Sheriff Ezekiel 
Williams, Elisha Doming (both of Wethersfield village), Elias Wil- 
liams, Captain William Griswold (both of Stepney parish), Captains 
Martin Kellogg and Charles Churchill (both of Newington parish), 
and Solomon Dunham (of Beckley Quarter) was chosen to receive 
contributions from the people and send the same to Boston. 



WKTIlKIiSl'IKLI). 471 

At a inoi'tiiiiT mi tlu' 5th of Se|itcnil)or following (being two days 
after the •• liostun Alarm.'" and oi'easiouiMJ liy it), the same Ezekicl 
\Villi;uMs, Martin Kelloair, ami Suinnuin I'lmham, toirctiier with Cap- 
tain IJeldi'n, Mr. Stephen Mix Mitehell, Captain Klisha Williams, 
Captain Jnhn Chester, Mr. Silas Deane, and Mr. John Hobbins, were 
chosen a " Committee of correspondents." Mitchell, Belden, and Eze- 
kicl Williams were chosen delegates to the convention to be held at 
Hartford on the 15th of the same month, "to consult about a non- 
consumption agreement," etc. A supply of five hundred pounds of ])ow- 
der was ordered for the town, with " bullets and flints in jiroportion." 

On the 1:2th of December the " Articles of Association," tlicn recently 
adopted l)y the Continental Congress, were approved in a town-meeting ; 
especially the article recommending town-committees of surveillance 
over citizens suspected as too friendly to the British Parliament. 
Such a committee was then chosen, consisting of Ezekicl Williams, 
Elisha Williams, Thomas Belden, Silas Deane, Ste])lien Mix Mitchell, 
Eiias Williams, Oliver Pomeroy, Martin Kellogg, John Chester, Francis 
lianmer, Solomon Duidiam, Jolni Rolibins, and Barnabas Deane. 

From the foregoing it is a|>i)arent tiiat Wetherslield was wide awake 
in the movements which led to the Ke\olution. One of her citizens, 
Silas Deane, was one of the most active and ellicient members of the 
Continental Congress of 1774. In the following year he was one of 
the five Connecticut members 
(three only were i)resent) of 
the Congress of the Confeder- 
ation. He early became one 
of the confidants of General Washingtctn, and it was undoubtedly due to 
this fact that the latter made Colonel Samuel Blatchley Webb (Deane's 
stepson, then a young man of twenty-one years) a member of his per- 
sonal staif, while Deane became an andjassador to France. Captain 



rs /) ^„_ 



^vi^^^^j^c^'Y^?^^*'^^^^^^-^ 




John Chester (son of Colonel .John Chester, who had died in 1771) was 
then in ccjuimand of the oldest of the four military companies in the 
townshiji, — the First, or Broad Street Company. It is not perhaps 
too much to say of this organization that it was the finest one of the 
kind in the colony. Captain Ezckiel ^»^ 
Williams, a brother of William Wil- f^ ^^J/^TS >» 
liams, of Lebanon, the signer of the Ca ^^^ff C^C-^' ^i_,p,,%^jL 
Declaration, was dejjuty commissary ^7 '^'»-^ ^^ 

of prisoners for the colony during f^ 

most of the war. He was father of the late Chief Judg(> Thomas S. 

Williams. His cousin, Captain Elisha Williams, mentioned above, was 

a son of the rector-colonel of the same name. He was a merchant, 

jp y and one of the most active 

^^ ^/'^f j^/f~U y' aa y members of this remarkable 

C/,*^ry. ,/^i>t«s^«v-t^:^>' . i^xm\\. Stei>hen .Mix Mitchell 

was afterward United States Senator, and cliief jmlge of the State. 
Captain Thomas Belden was graduated at Yale College ; he afterward 






472 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

became colonel of the Sixth Regiment. Captain William Griswold, 
who lived at Rocky Hill, was a sea-captain, and to this fact he owed his 
title. He owned the brig " Minerva," which was chartered by the col- 
ony and converted into a 
man-of-war. Lieutenant 
'^-A^'*^ ^ Barnabas Deane was, like 

^"^ "^ his brother Silas, a mer- 
chant largely interested 
in the West India trade. 
The minister at Wethersfield, the Rev. John Marsh, then but a few 
months installed in his office, had been a tutor at Harvard College. 
He was still young, earnest, and burning with patriotism. 

It may well be imagined that with all these influential agents at 
work Wethersfield accomplished a great deal. She sent to Boston, so 
said Samuel Adams, three hundred and ninety bushels of corn, two 
hundred and forty-eight and a half of rye, thirty -four of wheat ; besides 
other articles. And when the " Lexington Alarm," in April, 1775, 
reached Wethersfield, she sent Captain Chester, with probably the 
largest company from this colony, to Massachusetts. The amount 
reimbursed by the colony to the town for the expense of this expedition 
was ,£156 2s. \\d. The names of those who went are as follows : — 

Captain : John Chester. 

First lieutenant : Martin Kellogg. 

Second lieutenant : Chester Welles. 

Third lieutenant : John Beckley. 

Ensign : Barnabas Deane. 

Clerk : Roger Bull. 

Sergeants : Charles Butler, Thomas Welles, Solomon Stoddard, William 
Warner. 

Corporals : Hezekiali Butler, Eliel Williams, Ebenezer Dickinson, and Ben- 
jamin Catlin. 

Fifor : William Fosdick. Drummer : William Tryon. 

Privates : Amasa Adams, John Atwood, Henry Brown, Jonathan Belden, 
(Jonathan B.) Balch, Edward Brown, George Bradley, Timothy Brooks, Alvin 
Bigelow, Tliomas Bunce, Daniel Buck, Elisha Belden, Samuel Boardman, John 
Barnes, John Benton, Eeturn Boardman, Elijali Boardman, Samuel Boardman, 2d, 
Enos Blakeley, Benjamin Beckley, Solomon Beckley, Francis Bulkeley, Michael 
Brigden, WiUiam Crane, Nathaniel Coleman, Josliua Cone, James Clark, Daniel 
Curtis, Zadock Coleman, James Camp, Daniel Deming, Leonard Deming, Eich- 
ard Deming, Leonard Dix, Joseph Dodge, Elisha Dix, Josiah Deming, Aaron 
Deming, Jonathan Dallapy, Levi Dickinson, David Dimock, Samuel Davis, 
Solomon Dunham, James Francis, Simon Griffin, John Goodrich, Constant Gris- 
wold, Ozias Goodrich, William Griswold, Asa Hills, Enos Hunn, John Jackson, 
David King, James Knowles, Phineas Kellogg, William Kelsey, Moses Kelsey, 
Timothy Kilhourn, Richard Montague, Seth Montague, Hezekiah Jlay, Benjamin 
Morton, Charles Nott, Selah North, Oliver Pomeroy, Ackley Eiley, Jacob Rash, 
Joseph Eoads (Ehodes), Nathaniel Eussell, Thomas Russell, Oliver Robhins, 
Joseph Stillman, Natlianiel Sanborn, Gershom Smith, John Scripture, James 
Stanley, Ebenezer Stoddard, Ashbel Seymour, David Stoddard, Enoch Stodtlard, 
Jonathan Stoddard, Eli Stoddard, Eben Sanford, Charles Treat, Ashbel Wright, 
Robert Warner, Benjamin Weston, Joseph Wright, Josiah Welles, John Wood- 
house, Solomon Williams, Leonard Webster, David Wolcott, Zion Wentworth, 
Timothy White, Amos Andrus Webster, Israel Williams, Solomon Wolcott, 
Samuel Whitmore, and Timon, a Negro. 



WETHERSFIELD. 473 

Tlie aliovc were volunteers, taken from all the companies in tiie 
townsliij), and were not attaelicd to any rejriment. 

In the very lirst eon(|nest made liy the Americans in or in fact 
preceding the Revolution, — the capture of Ticondcroga, May 10, 1775, 
— Colonel Ethan Allen, but for the assistance of citizens of Wcth- 
ersfield, might not have been able to report the success which brought 
him so conspicuously into notice. The Hon. J. Hammond Trumljull ' 
has conchisively shown that the iilan for that enterprise was formed 
in Hartford, and that Colonel ."^aniuel H. Parsons, of Middletown, 
Colonel Sanuiil Wyllys, of Hartford, and Silas Deane, of Wcthersfield, 
" lirst undertook aiul projected taking tiiat fort," to (piote the language 
of Colonel Parsons. They were materially assisted by the purse of 
Silas Deane, he advancing X380 to Captain Elisha PheljjS, commissary 
of the expedition. Ezckiel Williams, of Wcthersfield, was one of the 
six signers of a note for o£oOO to be used in behalf of the expedition. 
There were forty-seven prisonei-s captured at Tieonderoga, exclusive of 
Major ."^kene and the other ollicers, and these were "billeted" among 
the people of Hartford and Wetherslleld. Williams had the personal 
charge of the prisoners at Wetherslield. They were allowed, and some 
of them embraced the ojiportuiiity, to attend divine services at Dr. 
Marsh's church. Joseph Webb, a merchant and tanner, and a brother 
of Colonel ."^amuel B. Webb, was particularly useful in the commissa- 
riat for the supply of war matc'rivl. 

The General Assembly having in April, 1775, ordered six regiments 
of volunteers to be raised, a company of one hundred and nine men, 
including officers, volunteered, under Ca])tain Chester, for service in 
the Second llegiment, under (Jencral Joseph Spencer; and this is 
the same company which fought at Bunker Hill, and whose brilliant 
performance there rendered glorious the part taken by Connecticut 
in that action. No soldiers were braver or better disciplined ; and 
no Connecticut officer, after Putnam, became more distinguished for 
his share in that sanguinary engagement than^Captain Chester. Below 
is a muster-roll of this company, called the " Elite Corps of the Army," 
when it marched to Charlestown : — 

Captain : John Chester. 

Lieutenants : Samuel B. Webb (to whom Barnabas Deane gave way), Ebeii- 
ezer Huntington, and Stephen Goodrieli. 

Ensign : Charles Butler. 

Sergeants : Ashbel Seymour, Phineas Grover, Benjamin Catlin, Daniel Curtis, 
and James Knowles. 

Corporals : William Tryon, Joseph Miller, Alexander McDowell, Josepli Au- 
dnis, and John Benton. 

Drummers : John liussell and William Tryon. 

Filers : William Williams, and William Fosdiok. 

Privates: A.shbel Wright, Jared Bunco, John Allyn (Asahel Andrews 1), 
Michael Barcc, Jonathan B. Balch, Isaac BidwoU, Enos Blakesley, Abraham 
Blinn, Hezekiah Blinn, Setli Boardman, Sauniel Boardman, Jonathan Bowers, 
Timothy Brooks, Lery Brooks, Thomas Brooks, Edward Brown, Francis Bulkelcy, 
James Burnhani, Oriin Burnliani, John Biiller, James McLean, (lidcon Cole, 
Nathaniel Coleman, William (,"rane, Josejih Crane, Thomas Crosliy, Jolin Dalla- 
beo (Delliberi), Samuel Davies, Samuel Delling (DUlingsl), Daniel Deraing, 

' Collections of Connecticut Historical Society, vol. i. 



474 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Leonard Dix, Setli Paddy, Benjamin Evans, Eliphalet Flint, Simeon Fox, Ro"er 
Fox (killed in battle), James Francis, Abner Fuller, Jacob Gibbs, Jonas Clark 
Gibbs, Isaac Goodrich, Hosea Goodrich, Ozias Goodrich, Elizur Goodrich, Azariah 
Grant, Constant Griswold, Thomas Hincklej', Asahel Hills, Aaron Hollister, Elijah 
Hollister, Thomas Holmes, Thomas Hoskins, Eli(jah'?) Hurlburt, Silas Hurlburt, 
John Jackson, Seth Kilbourn, Christopher Kilby, David King, Asa Loveland, 
Abisha Marks, Hezekiah Mackey, John Miller, Joseph Miller, John Miner, James 
Murphy, Elihu Phelps, Benoni Powell, Jacob Eash, Oliver liaymond, i'reilerick 
Robbins, Wilson liowlandson, Joseph Eowlandson, Stephen Sabins, Moses Scott, 
Eeuben Shipmau, Gershom Smith, Epaphras Stephens, Hezekiali Stocking, 
Enoch Stoddard, David Stoddard, Lawrence Sullivan, Ashbel Taylor, Charles 
Treat, Elias Weare, William Weare, Josiah Welles, Ziou Wentwortli, Elizur 
Wright, and Waitstill Dickinson. 

Tliis company has been called " by far the most accomj)lished body 
of men in the whole American army." ^ 

It will be seen that some of the members of this company were from 
other towns than Wetiiersfield. Lieutenant Huntington was at the 
time a student from Norwich, in Yale College. He was a son of Gen- 
eral Jabez Huntington, and he ran away from New Haven in order to 
reach the recruiting-station at Wethersfield. He was afterward dis- 
tinguished as a brigadier-general. 

Captain Chester was at this time but twenty-six years old. He was 
made colonel in June, 1776, and his regiment participated in some of 
the most important battles of the war. Lieutenant Webb, then but 
twenty-two years old, was soon thereafter an aide-dc-camj) on Washing- 
ton's staff, wntli the brevet rank of briga- 
dier-general. He was active in the cam- 
]iaign of Long Island. In December, 
1777, he was captured by a British frigate 
while on board a transport bound for 
^— . ^^ / V Shetuckct and Southold,in an expedition 
^ — -"^H^ having for its object the destruction of 
the enemy's stores at those places. He was not released from his 
parole until 1781, and so the country was early deprived of his valuable 
services. He was the father of the late General James Watson Webb, 
and grandfather of General Alexander S. Webb, now president of the 
College of the City of New York. 

It is noteworthy that no less than five members of the Goodrich 
family were in this company at Bunker Hill. The two Rowlandsons 
were descendants of the Rev. Joseph Eowlandson, a former minister 
at Wethersfield. Two men in this company, to wit, Gershom Smith 
and Roger Fox, were killed at Bunker Hill. A third, Wilson Eow- 
landson, died in prison at Boston. Lawrence Sullivan was taken 
prisoner. 

Wethersfield companies were in most of the important engagements 
from Charlestown to Yorktown. One complete muster-roll of such a 
company, that of Captain Elijah Wright, at W^hite Plains, in June, 1778, 
is herewith given in full : — 

Captain : Elijah Wright. 

First lieutenant : Isaac Goodrich. 

' See Frotliingham's " Siege of Boston," Humphrey's " Life of Putnam," etc. 




WETHERSFIELD. 



475 



Second lieutenant : Jonn Francis. 

Sergeants : Benajah Boardman, Elizur Talcott, Sclah North, and Francis 
Nicholson. 

Privates : Amiusa Adams, John Aiulrus, Amos Buck, Thomas Bidwell, Leon- 
ard IJoardnian, .Jonathan Brooks, Elijah Brooks, Elisha Baxter, Giles Bulkeloy, 
David liidwoll, Epliraim Bidwell, Elizur Brooks, Ebenezer Curtis, William Curtis, 
Nathaniel Churchill, Matthi^w Covill, lioger Clapp, Asa Eox (transferred to Con- 
nental army), Ju.stus Francis, Jesse Goodrich, Josiah Griswold, Matthew Hale, 
Enctt (I) IluUister, Stephen llurlburt, James Hatch, Asidiel Hollister, Levi 
Lovelaiid, Alvan Montague, Nathan Nicholson, John I'itkin, Joseph Steele, 
David Stillman, Jesse Sanford, Thomas Brooks, Zion Wentwortli, Silas Hurlburt, 
Elizur Hul)hartl, lloswell Goodrich (tiler), John Kirkham (drummer), Thomas 
Stanley, Krubon Taylor, Asahel Taylor, Josepli Taylor, George Tryon, Elisha 
Welles, Elisha Wetherell, Joseph Wheeler, Asa Wright, David Wright, Joshua 
Welles, Ezekiel Winchell, Ebenezer Wright, and Waitstill Dickinson. 

Colonol Cliostor's was one of the thrco Connecticut regiments at 
White Piniiis cntragcment. 

Besides those in Connecticut rcoiiuents, uuiny Wethersfield men 
were in tlie Regular or Continental army of tlie United States. Below 
is a list containing sixty-three names of men in that army credited to 
Wethcrslicld. It was found a few years ago, by Mr. Charles J. Iloadly, 
our State librarian, among some papers formerly belonging to William 
Williams, of Lelianon : — 



Ashbel Kiley. 
Abner Andrews. 
Moses Belden. 
Jonathan Miller. 
Dick Loomis. 
Thomas Wilson. 
Simeon Holmes. 
Waitstill Dickinson. 
John Kirkham. 
Asher Kusscll. 
Ezekiel Winchell. 
Stoiihen Dormonte. 
Rieiianl Belden. 
Stephen Kellogg. 
Setli Montague. 
Jared Bunco. 
Daniel Ward. 
Joshua Welles. 
Joseph Kowlandson. 
C.esar Freeman. 
Simeon Grilliu. 
Elijah Boardman. 



Hezekiah Kuote (Xott ?). 
Thomas Holmes. 
Gideon GoHe. 
Moses Hatch. 
David Lindsay. 
Abraham Belden. 
Joseph Treat. 
Benjamin Dix. 
Ichabod Goodrich. 
Joseph Johnson. 
John Forbes. 
Richard Bacon. 
Curtis Crane. 
Moses Griswold. 
Solomon Williams. 
Samuel Welles. 
Samuel Kirkham. 
Levi Latinur. 
Edmond Weatherhead. 
William Clark. 
Jonathan Dallibier (Delli- 
ber]). 



Joseph AVaters. 
Jabez Sizer. 
Charles Treat. 
Caleb Miller. 
William Morrison. 
Daniel Sizer. 
Peter Mohawk. 
Simeon (iriffiu. 
Thomas Morgan. 
Zebulon Mygatt. 
Edward Brown. 
John Dowl (!). 
Joshua Cone. 
Josiah Robbins. 
William Weare (Weirl). 
Asa Andrus. 
Isaac Palmer. 
Jared (1) Goodricn. 
Ebenezer Stoddard. 
Samuel Weaver. 



Some of the foregoing were officers. Solomon Williams was cap- 
tain of a company at White Plains. Some liad served in Connecticut 
war-regiments. Abner Andrews was a slave, freed by John Wright 
and Luke Fortune on condition of serving in the army. Civsar Free- 
man was freed by Elias Williams on the same condition. Others whose 
nnnu's do not apjjcar in the abov(! list were set free on the same terms. 
Dallibier (sometimes spelled D^allapy)was probably of Huguenot e.\trac- 
tion, and in French was Di. TEpce, — now Delliber. 



476 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

We cannot attempt to give even an ajiproximate mortuary record of 
the Revolutionary soldiers until rolls at Washington, not now accessi- 
ble, can be examined. These rolls arc now being copied pursuant to a 
resolution of Congress. 

During the Revolutionary period the town promoted the general 
cause by many votes, — choosing committees to raise clothing, blankets, 
provisions and stores to be forwarded to soldiers in the service. 

Many special taxes were laid for soldiers' bounties, etc. The final 
vote is that of April 28, 1783, which provided that the selectmen pro- 
cure a barrel of powder " for the purpose of firing field-pieces or cannon 
on account of the joyful M-ws of Peace." 

The writer has, with much care, prepared the following list of those 
Wethersfield men to whom military commissions were issued from the 
General Assembly for service in the War of the Revolution. Most of 
them were in the " Connecticut Line " of the Continental army. Those 
to whom commissions were issued from the Continental Congress, as 
officers of the Regular army of the United States, and officers of the 
" Alarm List," are not included in this list. 

April, 1775. lu General Spencer's Second liegiment of volunteers: John 
Chester, captain of the Ninth Company ; Barnabas Deane, first lieutenant ; Ste- 
phen Goodrich, second lieutenant ; Charles Butler, ensign. 

July, 1775. Dr. Josiah Hart, surgeons mate of Colonel Parsons's regiment. 
He was afterward surgeon. After the war he became cue of the first settlers of 
Marietta, Ohio. 

May, 1776. Eoger Bull, ensign; John Hanmer, first lieutenant of a company 
to be raised for " the defence of this and adjoining colonies." 

June, 1776. John Chester, colonel of a regiment for service in New York. 
Josiah Bobbins, second lieutenant of Second Comjiany in Third Eegiment. Jona- 
than Buck, ensigu. John Hurlburt, Jr., first lieutenant in Second Company in 
Chester's (Sixth) battalion ; Chester Welles, captain of Third Comi)aiiy ; Edward 
Bulkeley, first lieutenant in the .same. 

October, 1776. Solomon Welles, lieutenant-colonel ; Chester Welles, captain ; 
Ebenezer Wright, Joseph A. Wright, and Joseph Webb, first lieutenants in the 
Eighth Battalion of volunteers ; Ezekiel P. Belden (and Abraham Wright T), sec- 
ond lieutenants ; Simeon Belden, ensign. 

November, 1776. Samuel Welles, first lieutenant; Nathaniel Churchill, 
ensign in Second Battalion ; Roger Pile}', captain ; Elijah Wright, ca[itain. Isaac 
Goodrich, first lieutenant in Third Battalion. 

December, 1776. Hezekiah Welles, captain; John Belden, lieutenant; 
Chester Welles, ensign. The battalion was under command of Colonel Noadiali 
Hooker. 

May, 1777. Ezekiel Williams, a commissary of prisoners. Nathaniel Cluirch- 
ill, second lieutenant ; John Francis, ensign. 

October, 1777. Mr. Jonathan Deming, commissary. In the Third Brigade 
(Putnam'.s) at Fishkill and Peekskill. 

May, 1779. John Francis, lieutenant. 

January, 1780. David Deming, lieutenant. 

As the names of the towns in which the appointees resided were 
not generally given, it is possible that in a very few ca.ses a name has 
been omitted which should be credited to Wethersfield, and that some 
so credited belong to persons bearing the same name in other towns. 
It is probable that more United States commissions were issued than 
State commissions ; but we have no list of the former. 



WETHERSFIELD. 477 

Among the earliest advocates of jirivateerins was Barnabas Dcane 
of Wctliorsfickl. On the '2~th of November, 1775, lie wrote to his 
hrotlier Silas, tlicn a nionilior of the Cuniincntal Conj;rcss : "In case 
American privalcers are to be allowed to lake British property in the 
West Indies, ... If you think there is a probaljility of permission 
from Congress, |)ray attempt it ; as those i)ers()ns desirous (jf adven- 
turinii" are very impatient to be informed," etc. 

The authority was granted ; and on tlie '2-d of January folluwinur 
Barnabas writes: '> I propose setting out this afternoon for Saybrool\, 
to engage car]ieiiters, timlicr," etc. " Pray get the plan of the ship 
completed, and send it by lirst hand." It is pi'oljaljle that the vcs.sel 
was l)uilt at Rocky Hill ; but perhaps at the yard by tlie Cove in Weth- 
ersfield. In the course of the year 177fi Mr. Deanc became the owner 
of the |)rivateer sloop " Revenge," carrying eight guns and a crew of 
sixty-four men. Tiie '■ Revenge " is supposed to have been one of 
several vessels destroyed by the British in the Peno[)scot in 1779. 

Ashbel Riley was owner, and probably master, of two privateers, — 
the '• Ranger," 1776, having fourteen guns and twenty men, and the 
•'."^nake," 1778, four guns and twenty men. Ca])tain Justus Riley, Sr. 
(brother of Captain Aslil)elV), in 1778, had the sloop '• Hero," six guns 
and forty men. lie was an old tradcM- to the West Imiies, as were his 
sons Justus and Roswell. 

Ozias (Joodricli, in 1778, had the schooner " Hund)ird," four guns, 
twenty men; .Joseph Combs (or Coombs), in 1778, had the schooner 
" Indepentleuee," four guns, fifteen men (ca])tured by the iJritish ?) : 
Joseiih Ibilkeley (Rocky Hill), in 17tS0, bad the seiiooner "Experi- 
ment," twelve guns, forty men. Captain Samuel StiUinan, in 178U, had 
the brig " Jason," ten guns, twenty-live men. His brother, Captain 
AUyn Stillman, did a large transportation business for the .State. He 
imported most of the salt, and some other supplies of war. They 
were sous of Nathaniel, and grandsons of George Stillman, the settler. 
Moses Tryon, in 1781, took charge of the "Jason" above mentioned. 
He afterward became a captain in the United States navy, ('aptain 
Thomas Newson, a native of England, in 1782 had the sloop " Lash," 
ten guns and lii'teen men. He is said to have been brutal, and was 
susjiected of having killed his slave Dolly with an axe. 

Captain William (triswold, of Rocky Hill, was the owner of the 
brig " Minerva," built at that place. This vessel had the rejiutation of 
being the stanehest in the colony. She was chartered and an arma- 
ment put upon her by the colony in 1775, and served as a vessel of 
war both in the State and national service. Captain (iiles Hall, of 
Middletown, was in command of her most of the time. 

The Revolutionary period furnished no more hospitable a mansion 
than that of the Webbs, known as Hospitality Hall. It is next north 
of the Silas Deaiie house. Joseph Webb, Sr., bought the jilace, in 175:i, 
from .Major Samuel Wolcott, "2(1, for j£2,8()0 (old tenor), with a 
" dwelling-liouse, liarn, shop, and other buildings." 

But while, probably, the Woleott house was a line old mansion, 
as behtted a member of the famous Wolcott family, it is more than 
likely that Webb demolished it, and in 1752 or 1753 built this 
famous iiouse. It was originally red ; othci'wisc, excepting that 



478 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



the front porch was altered many years ago, it remains as it was 
built. 

Webb ilied in 1761, at the early age of thirty-five years. His 
widow, in 17<)3, married Silas Deane. She died in 1767, and Deane 
then married a daughter of Colonel Gurdon Saltonstall, and, as I sup- 
pose, occupied the house he had l)uilt adjoining Webb's. Webb left a 










r;#r^M-J 



r" iLJ. 



liiiIlj»j5iU]lj'ti!UiimirLii'iiiiiiftii;!i utiij^j^^iJii'jJMiWi^Jnillgjpji'ri; 



THE WEBB HOUSE. 



son Joseph, who in 1775 was about twenty-six years of age, and an 
enterprising merchant and trader to the West Indies. In 1774 he 
married Abigail, a sister of Colonel John Chester. His brother, Brevet 
Brigadier-General Samuel Blatchley Webb, was,' in 1775, but twenty- 
two years old ; and these two brothers, Joseph and Samuel B.,for some 
years occupied the homestead formerly their father's. The original 
Webb house is in fair condition, and the north front chamber is said to 
be in the same state as when it was occupied by General Washington. 

These details are given for the purpose of settling the question. 
Who did the honors of the household when Washington and other 
dignitaries were entertained in the Webb house ? The answer must 
be, Mrs. Joseph Webb, ne'e Abigail Chester. And these acts of hospi- 
tality are characteristic of a family whicli produced such chivalrous 
men as Major John Chester, his son Colonel Jolin Chester, and his 
grandson the second Colonel John Chester. 

Washington's first visit to the Webl) house, and to Deane's, next 
south, was on June 30, 1775, when on his way to take command of the 
army at Cambridge. With him were Major-General Charles Lee and 
other military officers. On the 22d instant Mr. Deane had written from 
Philadel]ihia to Mrs. Deane at Wcthersficld : " This will be handed you 
by his Excellency General Wasliington, in company with General Lee 




- ^^- t 




WETHERSFIELD. 479 

and retinue. Should they lodge a niii:iit in Wethersfield, you will 
accommodate their horses, servants, etc., in the best manner, at the 
taverns; and their retinue will, likely, [xn to Hartford." It is said that 
Stiliman's Tavern entertained some of Wasiiington's attendants. 

(iovernor Philip Skene, of New York, who had been arrested in 
Philadelphia as a Loyalist, stopped iiere, the bearer of letters from 
Mr. Deane, while on his way as a prisoner to Hartford, where lie was 
to be incarcerated, in July, 1775. Another Briton, a prisoner likewise, 
was entertained by Mrs. Webb April 1, 1770. This was Major Chris- 
topher French, of the Twenty-second Regiment of the IJoyal Armv. 
French's diary says, referring to this event : " Dined with General Put- 
nam at Mr. Webb's, of Wethersfield. lie [the Cieneral] is about five 
feet six inches high, well set, and about sixty-three years old; and 
seems a good-natured and merry man." 

Whether Washington called at the AV'ebb house while at Hartford 
in September, 1780, is a matter about which there is some douijt. 
As to the visit of May 19, 1781, there never has been any question. 
Washington set out from his headquarters, at New Wind.sor, on the 
Hudson River, according to his diary, on tiie 18th of .May. The entries 
are as follows : — 

"May 18</i. Set out this day for the interview at Wethersfield, with the 
Count de Rochanibeau and Admiral Barras. Reached Morgan's Tavern, forty- 
three miles from Fishkill Landing, after dining at Colonel Vanderberg's. 

" Vdlh. Breakfasted at Lilehtield, dined at Farmington, and lodged at 
Wethersfield, at tiie house of Jo.sepli Webb. 

" idth. Had a good deal of private conversation with Governor Trumbull, 
who gave it to me as his opinion that if anj' important offensive operations 
should be undertaken, lie had little doubt of our obtaining men and provisions 
adequate to our wants. In this Colonel Wadsworth and others concurred. 

" i\ft. Count de Rochanibeau, witli the Ciievalier de Chastellux, arrived 
about noon. The appearance of the British fleet under Admiral Arbuthnot, off 
Block Island, prevented attendance of Count de Barras. 

" 22</. Fixed, with Count de liochambcau, the plan of the campaign. 

" 23(/. Count de Ilochambeau set out on his return to Newport, while I 
prepared and forwarded dispatches to tlie Governors of the four New England 
States, calling on tlicm, in earnest and pointed terms, to complete their Continen- 
tal battalions for the campaign, at least, if not for three years or the war," etc. 

In Washington's private account appears this item : — 

" ^fay. To the Expence of a journey to Weathersfield, for the purpose of 
an interview with the French Gen' & Adm', specie expended in tins trip, — 
£35 18«." 

At the May session, 1781, the General Asseml)ly ujipropriated 
<£500 to defray the expense " to be incui-red in tpiartering (Jeneral 
Washington, General Knox, General Duportail, Count de Rochanibeau, 
Count de Barras, and tiie Chevalier de Chastellux, and their suites, in 
Wethersfield." 

It is probable that this was the most important military conference 
of the war. There were present with Washington Generals Knox, 
Duportail, and others, who accompanied him from New York ; General 
the Marquis de Chastellux and Field-Marshal de Rochanibeau. from 
the French army at Newport : Governor Jonathan Trumbull, from 



480 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Lebanon ; Colonel Jeremiali Wadsworth, of Hartford ; Colonel Sam- 
uel B. Webb, of Wethersfield ; and others. Neither Lafayette nor 
De Grasse, of course, could be present. A military escort of Hart- 
ford and Wethersfield companies, under command of Captain Fred- 
erick Bull, of Hartford, attended Washington, and escorted him to 
Colonel Chester's house in Broad .Street. The General visited 
Mr. Webb's tannery ; and a few years ago a flax-breaker used to be 
shown on the same premises, with which the General practised the 
breaking of flax-stems. 

The campaign, the plan of which was " fixed " (to use Washing- 
ton's words) at the Webb house, was that which resulted in the siege 
and capture of _^Yorktowu and the close of the war. The house is now 
owned by a son of the late Judge Martin Welles. 

The writer has not been able to prepare a complete list of the 
Wethersfield soldiers engaged in the last war with England ; but a 
partial list will be found in the following-named, all from the muster- 
roll of Captain Jared Strickland's company, in the " First Detached 
Regiment of the taiited States," for Connecticut : sergeants, Geoi'ge 
Crane, Joshua Goodrich, Robert Welles, Jr. ; corporals, Hiram Fox, 
Epaphras Andrews; fifer, William Holmes; drummer, John Pran ; 
privates, Samuel Ames, George Adams, William Blinn, Hezekiah Butler, 
Joseph Blinn, Elias Blinn, Russell Butler, Thomas Coleman, John Cole- 
man, Samuel Coleman, 2d, David Dickinson, William Flint, Jasper 
Goodrich, Levi Holmes, Jr., Charles Hurlbnrt, Asa Sawyer, Thomas 
M. Luce, Joseph Mitchell, James Smith, Jr., Amos Sanford, James 
Treat, David Tryon, Jesse Vibbert, Elisha R. Welles, Humphrey Wood- 
house, Joseph Wright, Lewis Williams. Further inquiry would probably 
show that quite a number of the remaining names on this muster-roll 
are those of Wethersfield men. 

Some were taken by the British from privateers. Two such Weth- 
ersfield men died in the noted prison at Dartmoor, England. They 
were Simeon Clark, Jan. 24, 181-3, from the " Snapdragon," and James 
Williams, Jan. 14, 1815, from the " Caroline." 

I am unable to learn that among the few who served from this 
State in the Mexican War, — not more than one company in all, — 
any were from Wethersfield. 

In the War of the Rebellion Wethersfield furnished more than her 
proportion of troops for the maintenance of the Union. The rolls of 
the adjutant-genei-al's office show that two hundred and thirty-two 
officers and enlisted men were credited to Wethersfield ; but there 
should be added to the list the names of those who, having removed, 
were credited to other towns within and without this State, and there 
should be deducted the names of those who were natives of other places. 
The latter would include a considerable number who were convicts 
from the State prison. Against the names of these convict-soldiers^ will 
generally be found the memorandum, " Deserted." Among the officers 
were Dr. A. S. Warner, surgeon of the Sixteenth Regiment ; John B. 
Clapp, adjutant of the same ; the Rev. John M. Morris, cha])lain of the 
Eighth; Edward G. Woodhouse, lieutenant in the Twenty-second. In 
the navy were some eight or ten men from Wethersfield. Sherman W. 
Adams was an assistant-paymaster in sea service. 



WETHERSFIELD. 481 

One of the first vessels built in tlii.s colony was tlic " Shipp Trvall," 
in 1()48, at Thomas Dcming's yard, hy the tlicii river's side, now the 
soiithoast shore of the Cove. Samuel Smitli was a principal owner of 
it. One Larrabee was the master. C'hristo|>her Fox, of Wetlierslield, 
was the •' boatswaync." When he died, in 1050, his nautical books 
and instnnnents were appraised at £S. A shii>-yard was maintained 
here down to a ])criod within the recollection of po<)|)lc now living. 

A yard of five acres in extent was laid out by the town a little 
above (he landinu' at Rockv Hill, in 1G72. Jlany vessels were built 
there. Amonu- thoni w;is the famous brigantinc " Minerva," of Captain 
William (iriswold, of Rocky Hill, then Stepney. 

An interesting chapter (for wliicli we have not space) might be 
given concerning the sea-cai)tains and merchants of the last century. 
We must content ourselves with simply mentioning some of them. 
Captain Joseph Stillman (grandfather of .James Otis, the Massachu- 
setts [latriot) was a prominent sea-captain, as was his son. Captain 
Allyn Stillman. Otis, (ieorge, Francis, and Simeon Stillman were sea- 
captains; and Charles and Southmayd Stillman, botli young mariners, 
were lost at sea, as was Otis also. Prominent mcrciiants and captains 
were Joseph Webb, Barnabas Deane, William Griswold, and Justus 
Riley. The latter was one of the owners of the brig " Commerce," 
whose famous career is given in ('aptain James Riley's " Narrative." 
Other sea-captains and masters of whaling-vessels are too numerous to 
be mentioned here. 

'I'lie great bulk of the foreign trade was in the exportation of beaver, 
deer-skins, pi|ie-stavcs, lumber, bricks, grain, Ix^ef, pork, and fish (the 
last three articles salted), horses, fiax-seed, and onions. The imports 
were mainly of " European goods," salt, rum, molasses, and sugar, and 
" West India goods " in general. Wethersfield was, by Congress, made 
a " port of delivery " in the Middletown district in 1799, and so remains 
to-day. 

The most ancient fishery is ]irobably that now Buck's, at the Cove. 
It is noted for its " herring " (alewife) jiroduction. Hundreds of bar- 
rels of alewives are packed and salted here annually, in the trade, 
they arc known as herrings. 

A salmon and shad fishery on the west shore of the river, below 
Pratt's Ferry road, was the subject of a contest for its control in tlic 
legislature in 1707. Certain people in Glastonbury claimed it: but the 
legislature confirmed its title in John Russell, of Wethersfield, the 
owner of the land. 

At Rocky Hill the « Five Nations," a little north of the ferry at that 
place, has been a noted shad fishery from ancient times. 

The account of allotment of lands, of the establisliment of highways, 
commons, cemeteries, river landings, wharves, and taverns, will be found 
el.sewhere. There remain certain other matters of a public or (jnagi 
public character to which a brief si)ace will be devoted. 

Tlie village of Wethersfield was incorporated in 1822. 

The Hartford and New Haven Turnpike, chartered in 179S, and 
the Middlesex, chartered in 1802. eacii had a gate in Wethersfield. 
They were discontinued about 1850 and 1872 resiiectively. 

A passenger wagon-express via Wethersfield village and Bcckley 
Quarter, from Hartford to New Haven, was conducted by Cajitaiu Jolin 

VOL. II. — 31. 



482 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Munson, of New Haven, beginning in 1717. In favorable seasons he 
made one round trip per week. 

A mail stage-route from Hartford to New Haven via Wethersfield, 
Rocky Hill, Middletown, and Durham, existed down to 1850 or later. 
Afterward it liccamc a Hartford and Durham line, and then a Hartford 
and Middletown line down to 1871. The Hartford and New Haven 
Turnpike was a stage-route until the opening of the railroad. Between 
Hartford and Wetliersfield an omnibus line, making tri-daily trips, 
existed from 1852 to 18G2. 

The depot at Newington, on the Hartford and New Haven Railroad, 
was not built until some years after that road was opened, which was 
in 1839. On tlie Hartford, Providence, and Fishkill Railroad a station 
was established at Newington in 1850. On the Hartford and Connecticut 
Valley Railroad depots were built for Wethersfield and Rocky Hill 
in 1871, for South Wethersfield in 1872. The horse-railroad between 
Hartford and Wethersfield was opened in 1862-1863. 

The post-office at Wethersfield was established in April, 1794, Thomas 
Chester postmaster ; that at Roclcy Hill in October, 1802, Isaiah Butler 
postmaster ; that at Newington in February, 1828, Amos Fairchild post- 
master ; that at South Wethersfield in April, 1873, Lyman Hewitt post- 
master. 

Drainage companies were authorized by the legislature as follows : 
To drain swamp (west of Wolcott Hill ?), in 1712 ; to drain lands south 
and west of present Prison Street, in 1726. The Great Swamp was 
drained the same year by a new channel across the road to the river ; 
hence originated Folly Brook. The Wet Swamp, west of Wolcott Hill, 
Gooseberry Swamp, and Hog Meadows were drained in 1761. In 1771 
and 1786 Fearful Swamp was drained ; in 1828, the tract between Pratt's 
Ferry road and the Causeway. 

Special attention will be called to only two dams. The " Reservoir," 
at Griswoldville, was first formed in 1716 by a dam across Dcming's 
meadows, to store water for Chester's mill. The dike was raised and 
strengthened by the Griswoldville Manufacturing Company in 1837. 

On Sucker or (Mill) Brook may be seen the remains of what probably 
was the first dam built in Connecticut. It was made to furnish power 
to Leonard Ciicster's grist-mill, built in 1637. 

Water, from the West Hartford Water-works, was introduced into 
the north end of the town about fifteen years ago. 

Telegraphic communication has been at times maintained via Hart- 
ford. There is now no office in Wethersfield for that purpose ; but 
telephonic connection exists. 

Two fire-engines were procured prior to 1803, at which time a fire- 
company was chartered. A new company in place of this was chartered 
in 1834. Its engine went to pieces in 1872 ; since which date only a 
hook-and-ladder company exists. 

The Wethersfield Mutual Fire Insurance Company was chartered in 
1830. It has been practically extinct for about twenty-five years. Of 
the foi'ty-five charter members only one, Major William Talcott, still 
lives. 

A "Public Mart or Fair" was chartered for Wethersfield in 1783. 
The " Connecticut Courant" for Oct. 26, 1784, in giving an account of the 
fair held that month, says: "A great quantity of dry and West India 



WETHERSFIELD. 483 

floods, as well as coinitrv mamifactiircs, horses, cattle, sheep, ami swine, 
were sold or bartered. The concourse of ijeoiile was very frreat ; some 
laid out to the amount of a thousand dollars." It is said to have been 
held in Uroad .'Street, and to have continued but a few years. 

A work-house was established in 1811. The town had a poor- 
iiousc before 1787, in which year an addition was built to it. In 
1838 the '-Rose place" was purchased for a town-farm, including the 
dwelling-house, which became the poor-house. On the Farm, in 1850, 
the town-house was built, and in it the poor-house and work-house 
were established. 

In Sei)teml)er, 1827, the State's convicts were transferred from 
N'ewa-ate, in the caverns of the abandoned copper-mines at Sinisl)nry, 
to the new jirisou at Wcthersl'ield. Newgate had been occui)ied lifty- 
four years. The number of convicts transferred was one hundred and 
twentv-seven. The average number in the prison at Wetherslield dur- 
ing tlie past year was two hinulred and thirty-five. The buildings are 
of red sandstone, and have been enlarged from time to time. Two of 
its wardens have been murdered by convicts, — Daniel Webster by 
Gerald Toole, in 1802, and William" Willard by Dave Keutlcy, alias 
James Wilson, in 1870. 

When the Union Library Society was formed is not known to the 
writer ; but it was in full operation in 1784 or earlier, in the upper 
room of the school-house on High Street. After the academy was 
built, in 1798, the volumes were kept in that building. It contained 
manv valuable works, all of which were sold at public auction about 
1850. 

The Rose Library was established in 18(56 through the munificence 
of Chauncey Rose, of Terre Haute, Indiana, a native of Wetherslield. 
It then had si.xteen hundred volumes. Its fund of •'^1,500 has been 
increased by private subscriptions. It is kept in the second story of the 
Congregational chapel. 

At Sfewington several libraries have; existed, an account of which 
will be found in Roger Wcllcs's " Annals of Newington." At Rocky 
Hill two rival libraries were started in 17i>5. That known as the Social 
Librarv was a few months the elder. Calvin Chapin. D.D., was its 
president. The other, known as the Free Library, ha<l Joseph Dimock 
for its president. The two institutions were merged in 1820, at which 
time there were seventy-t>ight members. The town possesses one 
library to-day, dating from 1877. 

The order of the Cincinnati was instituted, as is generally known, 
in 17S;J. Among the "real" members, three, namely. Colonel John 
Chester, Colonel Samuel Uhitehley Webli, and Cai)taiii Ezekiel Porter 
Belden, were from Wetherslield. Tlieir services in the Revolutionary 
Armv entitled them to wear the badge of the order. 

Columbia Lodire of Freemasons^ No. 25, was chartered in May, 
1793, for Stei.ncv Point (Roekv IlilH. It is the only one which has 
existed in Wetherslield townsliip. It has had its liall in Glastonbury 
for many years. John Nott was the first of its Worshipfid Masters.^ 

The Village Improvement Society was organized for Wetherslield 
village in 1883, and is in a flourishing condition. 



484 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Under the head of Mills and Factories there will be nothing of great 
maunitudc to record, since Wethersficld is an agricultnral community, 
and her streams furnish )>ut a limited supply of water-power. 

It is quite probable that the first "come mill" in the colony was that 
built by Leonard Chester, in 1637, on the stream known as Mill (or 
Sucker) Brook. In his first will, drawn in November of that year, he 
devises it to his son John. John Coultman, the schoolmaster of the 
town, attended this mill in 1648. For about one hundred and twenty 
3'ears past its successors have been known as the " Adams Mill," liav- 
ing been mainly owned by descendants of Amasa Adams. 

At Rocky Hill, at Dividend, the Rev. Gershom Bulkeley put up a 
grist-mill in 1678. The town had granted the land therefor to Governor 
Winthrop in 1661 ; but in 1668 he released his title to the town, which 
in turn granted the same land to Bulkeley. A mill was maintained 
here until some twenty years ago. At Beckley Quarter is tlie next 
oldest mill still in use. More recently one was built at Newington, 
close to New Britain township. At Griswoldville within the past year 
was erected the only grist-mill running to-day within the present town- 
ship, Beckley's being now in Berlin township. Bones and. gypsum 
have been ground in most of these mills. 

The first saw-mill was built by Thomas Harris, of Hartford, in 1667, 
on the south side of Hoccanum River, near Spar-mill Swamp. It was be- 
yond the eastern limit of Wethersfield, but was brought within it by 
the Indian Purchase of Five-Mile in 1672. 

The next one was that built in 1678 by Emanuel Buck, John and 
George Riley, and Samuel Boardman (all of Wethersfield village), at 
Pipe-stave Swamp, now in Newington. Saw-mill Path led to it through 
what is now Welles Quarter. John Hunniwell's saw-mill was built on 
Beaver (now Tando's) Brook about 1680. 

At Rocky Hill, Joshua Robbins, Jr., Eliphalet Dickinson, and Eben- 
ezer Dickinson built a saw-mill on a branch of Goffe's Broolc about 
1713. Between 1755 and 1786 several permits were granted by the 
town to build a saw-mill at the Folly. One of the busiest saw-mills 
was that built as an annex to the Chester (or Adams) grist-mill, about 
1820, and now discontinued. Ozias Griswold put up one in Gris- 
woldville, which was demolished about 1815 to give place to a fulling- 
mill. 

Bricks, at first, were mostly used in chimneys and laid in clay. In 
June, 1653, Matthew Williams employed Samuel Dickinson to assist him 
in making bricks, paying him sixpence per day in wampum. Where 
the kiln was is unknown. That of John Huuniwell, in 1680, was on 
the west bank of the present Tando's Brook. The latest kiln worked 
was that just south of the Folly, abandoned about ten years ago. 

Samuel Smith was a " fellmongcr " in 1640. John Smith was ad- 
mitted an " inhabitant," that he might " set up his trade of tanning," in 
1672. Hence it is inferred that tlic dressing of sheepskins was prac- 
tised in Wethersfield earlier than the tanning and currying of hides of 
cattle. There have been at times four or five tanneries coexistent in 
Wethersfield, including Rocky Hill. Two, Justus Riley's and Abraham 
Crane's, are remembered by people of to-day. 

In early days smithies were numerous, and they consumed large 
quantities of charcoal before the introduction of " sea-coals." The 



WETHERSFIELD. 485 

earliest " Cole kill " mentioned is that of Tliomas Hurlburt, in 1G77, 
by the liiook now callccl Tando's. No charcoal is now made in the 

to\VM-illi|l. 

WutlRTslicld oxiiortod tliirty thousand ])ipe-staves per annum, as 
early as 1641, to tiie West Indies.. Pi|jc-stave Swamp, now in Newing- 
ton, was so called in the records in 1077. The industry continued for 
more than one hundred and lifty years. These, as well as clapboards, 
were s])lit out or " rived," and not sawn. 

Zacliariah Seymour, son of Rii-liard, of Hartford, set up a fullinj^- 
mill near the conthu'uco of Twd-stime and IIanu:-di)<r brooks, in 1097. 
It is supposed tliat Jacdb (Jriswold, who settled in tJriswoIdviile about 
1712, built a fullinii-uiill there. In 1820 tiiere were tin-ee sucii mills 
in tiie township; to-day there are none. Tiie Griswolds, for several 
generations, were clothiers as well as fullers. Cloth-dressing was be- 
gun about 1795 by Thomas Griswold, Sr., and continued ijy the Gris- 
wold family until 18oG. 

John Stewart's still, in 177o, is the earliest of which the writer 
finds mentiou : but there were earlier ones. One below the landing, 
at Rocky Hill, for makini;- •' rye gin," is still remembered; also one 
owned by Ca))tain Wait Hobbins, near his house, west of Goffe's IJrook. 
This latter made cider-brandy. In 1820 there were five in the township. 
None remains. 

Much might be said of the carding, spinning, weaving, and knitting 
once done in Wethersfield and Newington. James Wallaee was a 
weaver of stockings of "silk-cotton thread and of worsted" in 1776. 
A few years ago large quantities of underwear were knitted by stockinet 
machinery at the two water-power factories in Griswoldville. The in- 
dustry began in 1849 and continued about twenty years. 

Thomas Griswold & Co., at (hiswoldville, in 1831, were the pioneers 
in the use of the power-loom in Wethersfield. They wove satinet until 
1849, when they were succeeded by J. Welles Griswold <fe Co., and the 
latter by J. Welles and Charles K. Griswold ; the two latter firms 
changing the business to stockinet-knitting. In 1845 forty-three thou- 
sand yards of satinet were woven at the Wethersfield mills; and they 
consumed thirty-live thousand two hundred and fifty pounds of wool. 
In this same year Wethersfield produced twenty thou.sand pounds 
of cotton-battiiig. No textile fabrics are made in the township at 
present. The '-Brick" factory, at Griswoldville, was the last in opera- 
tion. It manufactured stockinet underclothes. 

We are without ihita as to the manufacture of hats of wool and of 
fur. Captain John Palmer's works, on the east side of Broad Street, 
were the last, and they arc .still remembered. Palmer " felted" large 
quantities of tiie fur of muskrats. 

In 1819 and ls20 Miss So|ihia Woodhouse (afterward ilrs. Gurdon 
Welles) was awarded premiums for "leghorn hats." which she had 
plaited. In 1821 letters-patent were granted to her as the inventor 
of a new material for boimets, etc. She used the stalks, above the upper 
joints, of the "spear-grass" and "red-top" grass, commonly growing 
about Wethersfield. Tlic articles nuide therefrom acquired a national 
reputation for excellence. The London Society of Arts, in 1821, 
awarded her twenty guineas for a bonnet exhibited in its fair; certi- 
fying that the material used was " superior in color and fineness to the 



486 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

best Leghorn straw." The wife of President John Quiney Adams wore 
one of the bonnets, and her husband wrote of it that it was "an extraor- 
dinary specimen of American manufacture." Tlic industry was broken 
up about 1835 by a conflagration which consumed the workshop. 

Wethersfiehl, perhaps, lias the honor of having made the first corn 
'brooms in this country. They were made by Levi Dickinson, a native 
of Stepney parish ; certainly after his removal to Hadley, near the close 
of the last century, and perhaps before he removed." In 1845 they 
were still made at Rocky Hill in considerable quantities ; the product 
of that year having been five thousand five hundred brooms. 

Rope-making was done in Stepney parish by Jonathan Bill, a hun- 
dred years ago. His rope-walk was a little north of the landing there. 
James Church, of Hartford, took the business in 1800, and continued it 
until 1827. Asher Robbins, Esq., in 1830, built a fine hemp-mill, on 
Sucker Brook ; but it, with other enterprises, ruined liim financially. 
The Churches, of Hartford, bought the works in 1834, and removed 
them to that city. The building which remained became a wagon- 
factory. Robbins also had a rope-walk, which the Churches bought, 
removing the machinery. 

Potash was made in 1815, or earlier, at the south end of Broad 
Street. In 1831 the late Dr. Erastus F. Cooke and others were incor- 
porated as " The Eagle Laboratory Company." Their works (now put 
to other use) still exist. For some years they did a large business in 
the manufacture of saltpetre, cojjperas, etc. 

Books were published in Wethersfield during the first forty years of 
the present century. Nearly all the works of Frederick Butler, A.M., 
were printed there. Probably the earliest local printer was Abel Dem- 
ing. A volume entitled, " Life, Writings, and Opinions of Thomas 
Jefferson, by B. L. Rayiier," an octavo volume of 556 pages, bears the 
imprint, " New York : published l.iy A. Francis and W. Boardman, 
1832 ; " but it was printed in a liuilding now the dwelling-house on the 
north corner opposite to the old May's Tavern. Both publishers lived 
in Wethersfield. 

William Adams and Hiram Havens began Avood-working by water- 
power, a little up-stream from Adams's Mill, in 1837. About their first 
work was the remodelling the interior of the Congregational meeting- 
house. The Plough- Works succeeded to these. 

William Boardman, now of the house of William Boardman & Sons, 
of Hartford, was the first to start the important industry of coffee and 
spice grinding in this vicinity, if not in the State, about forty years ago, 
in Wethersfield. 

In 1843 Hiram Havens began the manufacture of ploughs for 
Thomas Smith & Company, of Hartford, now Smith, Bourn, & Co. 
They were for the Southern trade. In 1845 the number made was one 
thousand. The works were removed to Hartford in 1848. 

The Griswoldville Manufacturing Company manufactured the first 
edge-tools and hammers, at Griswoldville, in 1837. The charter mem- 
bers were Thomas, Jacob, Justus, and Stanley Griswold, and Asher 
Robbins ; and tlieir works were in the brick factory, which they built. 
This was destroyed by fire in 1847. Tliey were succeeded by Bailey & 
Wolcott (Arnold Bailey and Oliver Wolcott) in 1847-1848, whose woVks 
were in the old clotli-dressing mill next west of the Jacob Griswold 



WETHERSFIELD. 489 

dwelling-house. The manufacture of axes was bcprun at Dividend, 
in Rocky Hill, about 1830, in the old iriist-mill standing on the site 
of the Kov. Gershoui Hulkelcy's mill. The same works wore kept going 
until about 18(>7 by several parties, ineludiug Isi-ael Williams, William 
Butler, and Welles <fc Wilco.x (fJeneral Leonard R. Welles and Alfred 
Wilcox), respectively ; the latter adding chisels and " plantation " hoes 
to the list of goods made. 

About a hundred years ago Captain Thomas Danforth, at Rocky 
Hill, was a manufacturer of jiewter and tin wares, mostly for tlie 
Southern States, lie used liorsc-puwer todri\e some of his machinery. 
He had among his api)rentices Ashbel Griswold (^born in 1784), also 
of Rocky Hill. The latter, in 1808, removeil to Meriden, and there 
began the manufacture of articles of block-tin. He thus was one of 
the earliest promoters of the britannia industry for which that city 
has become fanious. He died wealtliy, in 1853. 

In ITTo Leonard Chester, thou twenty-live years of age, a brother of 
Colonel John, had six men em[iloyed in the manufacture of pins. He 
then memorialized the General Assembly for a bounty from the State, 
and a committee of that body found that he had expended £1,700 in 
building up the industry. 

The oldest carriage-works, those of Neff & Merriam (William Xeff 
& Edmond ilcrriam), were a few rods below the landing, at Rocky 
Hill, in buildings subsequently used by .'^ugden & Butler as a foundry. 
They were established about 183<), and their jiroducts were almost 
wholly sold in the South. At Wilmington, North Carolina, Ibis firm 
built and owned a " repository "' for carriages in 1839. The business 
was continued until about 1840. 

We have not space to give an account of the remaining manufactures ; 
most of them later than those above mentioned. They include wood- 
carving, cabinet, and chair-making, foundries ((me, that of the Wethers- 
field Xovelty Co., established in 1872, still in operation), wagon-making, 
buttons, coliin-making, and a mattress-factory ; which last is still doing 
a large business, conducted by the Hewitt Brothers. 

Tlie little space we have left will not permit us even to mention all 
the items of farming, live-stock, fruit-cvdture, the dairy, etc. We must 
be content to give a passing notice to some few of these matters. There 
are indications that John Oldiiam sowed wheat or rye in Wethersheld 
in 1(334. When he was murdered, in July, 1(330, the General Court 
directed Thurston Raynor to harvest Mr. Oldham's '• corne [grain], as 
he hath hitherto done." If tliis means that Raynor had looked after 
(Hilham's grain the season before (which is reasonable, seeing that 
Oldham was a mariner), — then it is nearly certain that Oldham liad 
harvested a croj) in 1635, which had been sown the previous fall. He 
also left several horses, and the Court speaks of " two of the mares." 
Cattle, horses, and swine were in Wethersfield in 1635. Goats, at 
first, were much more common than sliee|), being less in danger from 
wolves. Maize ("Indian conic"') and ■• Indian beans" — the latter 
supposed to have licen the small. Hat pole-bean known to-day as the 
Seiva bean — were found cultivated by the savages, lleniii, and jn'ob- 
ably flax, was raised as early as 1640; and both these fibres were 
cultivated down to forty years ago, and to a small extent later. Barle/ 



490 MEMORIAL HISTORY OP HARTFORD COUNTY. 

was ^Town within the memory of people now living. Malt was made 
therefrom soon after 1640. 

Tohacco-raising was practised very early. In 1704 a town vote pro- 
hibited people from establishing anymore "tobacco-yards, or gardens" 
in the public highways. Wethersfield to-day produces large crops of 
the finest " seed-leaf " tobacco, and Cuban tobacco is raised by some 
growers. 

The onion has been a staple crop here for very many years ; the 
"Wethersfield large red" being recognized as a distinctive and favorite 
variety. As early as 1710 Benjamin Adams sold seventy -one bushels of 
these bulbs to Dr. James Poisson. 

In later years some experiments have been made in the culture of 
the " top onion," whose small bulbs grow at the top of the flower-stalk ; 
also with the " potato onion," the bulbs of which are held together at 
the roots. Neither of these have proved profitable. The practice has 
been to "bunch" the onions on ropes of straw; the bunches weighing 
from two to two and a half pounds each. Of late years the biggest 
onions have been sold by the bushel. Nearly all are sent to New York. 
The culture of the croji is mainly done l\v women and boys. 

The ReA'. Samuel A. Peters, the unveracious autlior of the " History 
of Connecticut" (London, 1781), says; "It is the rule with parents to 
buy annually a silk gown for each daughter above the age of seven 
years, till she is married. The young beauty is obliged in return to 
weed a patch of onions with her own hands." This is about as true as 
his other statements, — that the township is " ten miles square " (making 
it contain at that time one hundred square miles instead of thirty-six), 
and that "the people are more gay than polite." 

Closely connected with onion-culture is that of the garlic. This 
member of the leek family has been cultivated for many years. The 
product is shipped to New York, whence it is nearly all exported to the 
West Indies and South America. They are bunched by the roots in- 
stead of the tops, as is the case with onions, — the roi}es weighing 
about a pound each. 

Broom-corn was early cultivated here. It was a Wethersfield man, 
Levi Dickinson, who, in 1797, is said to have made the first broom from 
the panicles of this plant. It was at Hadley, Mass., whither Dickinson 
had removed. As he began to cultivate the plant at the same time, it 
is quite likely that its culture was then begun in Wethersfield, where 
large crops were grown as late as twenty-five years ago. 

It is probable that teasels were cultivated from near the beginning 
of the present century, soon after cloth-dressing became an important 
industry of the town. The woollen-mills of the State became a market 
for these natural wool-cards, and the writer remembers many fields of 
them in Wethersfield. 

The raising of garden and flower seeds was begun by James Lock- 
wood Belden in 1830, and has continued to be an important industry 
of the town ever since. The business has since been carried on by 
Butler N. Strong & Co., Comstock, Ferre, & Co., Johnson, Robbins, & 
Co., Thomas Griswold & Co., and William Meggatt ; all which, except- 
ing Strong and Co., continue in the industry. 

Potatoes and other tubers are grown in great abundance. Car- 
rots are mostly grown with onions, being sown with them. Market- 



WETHERSFIELD. 491 

gardening is carried on somewhat extensively. Amonfr the wild fruits 
and plants may be mentioned the large praiies of the meadows, fox 
grapes, elioke jjcars, the moiidow plum (now (piite sean-e), the wild 
cherry and choke cherry, tlie Imrberry (introduced as a hedge-plant), 
the black cnrrant, the Jerusalem artichoke, asjjaragus (prolmblv natu- 
ralized), and most of the wild fruits and imts found in other parts 
of the State. Nearly all the cultivated fruits found in this latitude are 
grown in Wethersfield. Some of the mulberry (Monis multifaulis) 
trees, planted in the days when the silk-worm fcvec was raging, some 
forty years ago, still roniuiu. 

The satliowcr, sjjikenard, comfrey, opium-poppy, smallage, rue, 
wormwood, coriander, thyme, and other plants which formerly were 
found in many gardens have pretty generally disajjpcared. 

Live-stock breeding has become an important item. The "native," 
or oldest breed of neat-cattle is sujiposed to have been of Devon and 
Hereford origin mixed. Later, the Durham has been introduced ; and 
at present. Wethersfield breeders are importing Ayrshire, Jersey, Hol- 
stein, and Swiss cattle. Sheejvraising is no longer practised, except by 
a very few. The Leicestershire was the most common until the intro- 
duction of the merino variety. A few years ago some of the South 
Down and Cotswold breeds were imported. 

The writer had purposed, space permitting, to add a chapter contain- 
ing biograjiliical notices of some of the sons of Wethersfield. This 
must be omitted ; but the reader will find in the preceding pages 
special mention of some of the most iiromiut'nt of these men. 

We must also neglect the (piarries. old buildings, lawsuits, crimes, 
conflagrations, disasters by hurricane and flood, adventures, etc. One 
subject, however, is of such historic importance that its omission here 
would be quite inexcusable. We refer to witchcraft, or, as the law-books 
sometimes termed it, " conjuration and sorcery." 

It is not surprising that a belief in the existence of witchery pre- 
vailed in New England so late as about two centuries ago, considering 
that in England so recent a law-writer as Sir William Blackstone 
recognized it as a p*)ssible and punishable offence; and the j)enalty 
provided for it l)y our General Court was in conformity with th(> Mosaic 
Code, and was directly borrowed from the English Common Law. 

It is probable that Wethersfield may rightfully claim the unenviable 
distinction of having furnished a majority of the proven (?) cases of 
witchcraft in Connecticut, leaving out New Haven Colony. Mary John- 
son, in 1648, was, " liy her owne confession," found guilty of " familiar- 
ity with the Devil." It does not appear whether slie was executed, but 
she is not heard of afterward. Slie is supposed to have been the same 
Marv Johnson who was pultliclv whijjped at Wethersfield, in 1646, for 
theft. 

John Carrington, a carpenter, with his wife .loane, came to Wethers- 
field before 164.?. They had a homestead on Sandy Lane, near the cor- 
ner of Fort Street. Carrington was probably a somewhat lawless man, 
for in 16")0 he had lieen fined £10 for ■• bartering a gim with an Indian." 
In March, 16ol,he and his wife were indicteil separately for witchcraft. 
The charge was in the usual form, that. "Thou hast entertained famil- 
iarity with Sathan, the greate enemy of (!od and mankinde : and liy his 



492 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



hclpe thou has done workes above the course of nature ; for which, both 
according to the lawe of God and the established lawe of this Common 
wealth, thou deservest to die." The unfortunate culprits were convicted ; 
and the husband certainly, and the wife probably, executed. The Court, 
administering upon Carrington's estate, directed that the inventory 
thereof be filed, but not recorded. 

John Harrison and his wife Catharine came to Wetliersfield to 
live in 1647 or 1648. Their home was on the west side of High Street. 
The husband, having in the mean time held office as a town-crier and a 
surveyor of highways, died in 1666, leaving three daughtei's (the oldest 
sixteen years of age), and an estate inventoried at .£610. In May, 1669, 
the widow was convicted of witchcraft by a jury of the Court of Assist- 
ants. The General Court, at its May session, 1670, on appeal, directed 
the Court of Assistants to re-try the case without the jury. This was 
done, and that tribunal, as thus constituted, was wiser than wheii it had 
the assistance of a panel of the peers of the accused person ; for the 
release of the prisoner was directed. The Court, however, ordered Mrs. 
Harrison to pay the costs of prosecution, and advised her to remove 
from the hostile township. Slic jirobably took tlie Court's advice. 

In reluctantly closing this imperfect sketch, the writer must express 
his oliligations to those who have aided him in his task. Among these 
should be mentioned Mr. Charles J. Hoadly, to whom all local historians 
have or ouaht to have recourse ; also Dr. Rufus W. Griswold and Mr. 
Charles Williams, botli of Rocky Hill ; Mrs. Mary D. JlcLean, of Wetli- 
ersfield ; and Mr. Galpin, the town clerk of the same place. 




CONNECTICUT STATE PRISON AT WETHERSFIELD. 



XXVI. 
ROCKY HILL. 

BY SHERMAN W. ADAMS. 

THIS township was incorporated in May, 1843, at which time its 
boundary -lines were defined substantially as follows: Begin- 
ninii' at the Connecticut River ; thence cxtcndin.ir due west to a 
button-ball tree in the fence on the cast side of the hiuhway about 
two rods north of (iotl'e's IJrid^'c ; thence to the Four Corners, so 
called (where tlic road fi-oni Griswoldville to Rocky Hill crosses the 
old road from Rerlin to Hartford), intersecting!: the northeast anffle ; 
thence along the east side of said old road to the Hanjj-dofr road, 
so called, on which [Amos] Benson resides ; thence, westerly, par- 
allel with two-rod highway, to twenty-rod highway, to a point three 
degrees north of cast of the monument, in the northeast corner of 
Berlin ; thence, westerly, to said monument : all the Wethersfield terri- 
tory south and east of this line. As thus laid out. the ni-w town.ship 
was bounded north by AVcthcrslield (now partly by Xewington), cast 
by the river, south by Middlctown (now Cromwell), west by Berlin 
and AVethersficld (now partly by Xewington). Its greatest length, cast 
and west, is about four and a half miles, and its greatest breadth, 
north and south, about three and a quarter miles. It embraced the 
old parish of Stepney, and its subsequent enlargements. 

The first representative sent by this town to the legislature, in 
1844, was Roderick Grimes. In 1852 it contributed one of the .sena- 
tors to that body, — General James T.Pratt. The same gentleman 
was a representative to Congress, 1853-1855. 

The topographical and physical features of this section have been 
mentioned under the title of " Wethersfield." To these wc may add, 
that good specimens of slate arc found here, as.sociated with anthracite 
in small quantities. A fine red earth, known and sold to burnishers as 
" |iolishing-grit," is found here in large de])osits. Fossil fishes are im- 
bedded in thi^ strata of slate rock. The latter is described in Dr. Per- 
cival's Report, in 1S42, as "a large bed of Ijituminous shale, containing 
fish inqiressions, and recently excavated for coal." 

Down to the date of the existence of Rocky Hill as a separate town- 
ship it has been treated as a part of Wethersfield, excepting as to its 
ecclesiastical history. It remains, however, to narrate briefly the 
story of the rise and progress of the parish, out of wliich grew 
the township. In December, 1720, certain peo]ile at Rocky Hill, 
namely, Thomas Williams, Sr., Jo.scph Butler, Jonathan .^mith, John 
Goodricli. .'^amucl Urldcn, John, .^^tcphen. and Joseph Rili'y, William 
Xott, Stephen Williams, Joseph Cole, Jolm Taylor, Richard IJutler, 



494 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Elihu Dickinson, Jonathan Curtis, Samuel Collins, Thomas Good- 
rich, Jonathan and Jacob Riley, Joseph Crowfoot, Gideon Goodrich, 
Samuel Smith, and Abraham Morris, set in motion a project for 
separate worship there. In the following year they petitioned the 
town for its sanction of the movement. In March, 1722, the town 
voted favorably. At its May session, 1722, the General Assembly in- 
corporated the parish, and fixed its bounds substantially as follows : 
Connecticut River and Beaver Brook on the east ; a line due east and 
west from Samuel Dix's (now Russell Adams's) corner to the rear of 
Peter Blinn's home-lot, north ; the rear of the lots on the west side of 
the main road to Middletown, west, in part ; and partly by the west 
ends of the three southernmost east-and-west tiers of lots ; south by 
Middletown. Upon the application of Joseph Grimes, Jonathan Curtis, 
and Benjamin Wright, a committee to select a site for a meeting- 
house was chosen at the same session. In May, 1723, the new parish 
was christened -Lexington, in honor, as the writer believes, of Joseph 
Grimes, who was probably a native of Lexington, Mass. However, 
this name was, at the very same session, dropped (Grimes himself 
being one of those who requested the change), and that of Stepney 
substituted therefor. The reason assigned was, that another Lexington 
existed in Massachusetts. 

Why Stepney, the name of a borough now in the Tower Hamlets 
in the east suburb of London, was the name finally chosen, the wi'iter 
has never heard suggested. It was anciently written Stibenhede, or 
Steben-hythe, and meant, as is conjectured, a stoivage-lmven. 

Stepney parish was enlarged in 1759 by the extension of its east 
line to the river and its north line to tlie New Haven road. On 
the west it was made to include a part of Kensington parish. In 1794 
Stepney contributed some of its territory to Worthington parish, which 
had been created in 1772. Minor changes were effected in 1823, 
1829, and 1847, which we cannot detail here. In 1826 the legisla- 
ture substituted the name Rocky Hill for Stepney. 

In 1720 Tliomas Williams, Sr., Jonathan Curtis, and others, " in- 
habitants of Rocky Hill," desiring ecclesiastical autonomy, asked the 
town for sixty acres of land for " church use." The town gave the 
land ; it being northerly from the " stone-pit " and south of Cold 
Spring. Eight acres, for a parsonage, was granted at the same time. 
These tracts were on the south side of the road leading from Gris- 
woldville to Rocky Hill. The meeting-house was probably built, or 
begun, the same year. It was completed, excepting its pulpit, prior 
to 1726. It was a two-story structure, of wood ; and it stood in the 
highway, in front of the present site of Wait Warner's barn. Pews 
were put in, from time to time, mitil 1730. In 1732 galleries were 
built. Its ceiling was plastered for the first time in 1769 or 1770. 
The meetings, for many years, were convoked by beat of drum. In 
1808 the old building was sold at auction and demolished. 

In July, 1726, occurred the installation of Stepney's first settled 
minister. He was the Rev. Daniel Russell, a son of the Rev. Noadiah 
Russell, of Middletown, who was one of the founders of Yale College 
and one of the authors of the Saybrook Platform. Mr. Russell con- 
tinued in the pastoral charge until liis death, Sept. 6, 1764. 

The Rev. Burrage Merriam (a native of Meriden ?) was installed in 



ROCIvY HILL. 495 

February, 1765. He occupied the house now ifrs. Webster Warner's. 
His ministry closed with his death, Nov. 30, ITTfi. He was succeeded, 
.laii. :!0, 1781, by tlie Rev. Jolin Lewis, of Southinsjtun, a tutor at Yale 
("oUcge. His wife was Mary, a daughter of Colonel Leverett Hubljard, 
of New Haven. He Ijuilt the house afterward occuiiied bv l>r. Cliapin. 
He died April 28, 17i>2. 

The next minister was the Rev. Calvin Chapin, D.D. He was a 
native of .Springlield, JIass. ; was graduated at Yale College in 1788 ; 
studied theology wilh tlic R(>v. Na- 

tliau lVikins,l).D., of West Hart- y i • ^f ./ ' 9\ ^ 
ford : was licensed to preach in 1791 ; <> <U<m^ H^ U df^-^. I^ .D. 
a tutor at Yale College until 1794, 

and had the educational cliarge of Jeremiah Day, afterward its presi- 
dent. He was installed at Stepney, A])ril 30,1794. He preached there 
until Thanksgiving Day, 1847. His ofhce closed with his death, in 
March, 1851. ^ 

The late Rev. Noah Porter, D.D., of Farmington, said of Dr. 
Chapin: " He was distinguished for exactness, enterprise, and humor, 
and a constant interest in all Christian and benevolent enterprises." 
From its organization, in 1810, until his death, he was Secretary of the 
A. B. C. F. M. In 182G, as '• Missionary," he made the tour of the 
Western Reserve, Ohio ; publishing a pamphlet giving the results of 
his observation. When the Connecticut State Temperance Society was 
organized, in 1829, he was made chairman of its executive committee. 
As a humorist he was keen, kind, and incisive. 

It was during Dr. Chapin's ministry, in 1808, that the present Con- 
gregational nu'cting-house was Imilt. It was sixty by fifty feet in 
size, and modelled like that at Middlctown. It was dedicated on the 
22d of September. Originally its seats were pews ; these were removed 
in 1830 and 1842, and slijis substituted. Tiie bell and clock were pro- 
vided in 1835. In 1843 the spire was taken down, leaving the present 
tower. Some of the timber of the fird meeting-house was incor])orated 
in the present dwelling-lionse of Mr. Sanuud Dimock. 

The Rev. J. Burton Rockwell succeeded to Dr. Chapin in July, 
1850, and preached about nine years. He was succeeded by the Rev. 
George Muir Smith, a native of Scotland, from April, 1859, until June, 
1803! The Rev. Henry Ford, of Binghamton, was acting i}astor for 
about three years next succeeding, when, Nov. 6, 18G7, the Rev. Jlcrrick 
Knight was installed, and continued in olhce imtil March. 1872. The 
Rev. William V. Fisher, a native of Canada, was settled as :Mr. Knight's 
successor. He e(mtinued until 1878. when he accepted a call to Bruns- 
wick, Maine. Since his dismissal the pulpit has been occupied suc- 
cessively by the Rev's Samuel Y. Lum, William Miller, and Charles L. 
Ayer, the present incumbent. In 1843 the membership of thi.s church 
was as high as two hundred and twenty-four in nundter ; and in 1870 
as low as one hundred and fourteen. 

Services by Methodists were first held at the Centre in 1843. The 
meetings were in the old " store " once Archibald Robbins's (one of the t^ 
crew of the famous brig '' Conuneree"), which had been removed to a 
point a few feet north of the present Methodist church. The Rev. 
H. T. Gerald was the preacher. In 185;t the ".store" meeting-hou.se 
was sold to James Warner, upon whose homestead it now stands ; and 



496 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

a lioiise of worship, the one now in use, was built. The Rev. John 
Lovejuy began preaching in 1844, and continued several years. Since 
l)is time tlie pulpit has been supplied mainly by preachers assigned by 
the Confei'ence, or hired temporarily, or by students from Wesleyan 
University. 

In 1843 the Methodists at West Roclvy Hill built a modest little 
temple for that section ; the Rev. B. Redford preached therein in 1844. 
Since his term the pulpit has been supplied, witli some intermissions, 
in the same way as that at the Centre. 

Services according to the form of the Roman Church were first 
held, about ten years ago, at the hall in the Centre schoohhouse, 
mass being said by the Rev. John Ryan, of Cromwell pai'ish. In 1879 
a church edifice was begun, and in 1881 it was, for the first time, 
occupied. 

Some effort was made, about 1815, to organize a Baptist Society ; 
but the project failed. A little later, Jolm Marsh, of Hartford, used to 
conduct services for a few Universalists. He ceased after 1822. In 
1876 efforts were made to revive this latter organization, but without 
success. 

There are four school-houses in the township. The history of 
these has been given in our account of such buildings in AVethersfield. 

The shipping, commerce. ]aiblic works, societies, and institutions 
of Rocky Hill have been alluded to in our sketch of Wethersfield ; 
so have its mills, nmniifactorics, and industries, so far as they ante- 
date its incorporation as a town. Subsequent to that date the manu- 
facture of "champagne cider" was carried on for some years in the 
buildings earlier the carriage-works of Neff tt Men-iam and tlie foundry 
of Robert Sugden & Co. In 1879 Amos "VYhitney and Charles E. 
Billings, both of Hartford, ])urchased the old edge-tool works, at Divi- 
dend, from General Leonard R. Welles, and the works are now owned 
by said Billings. In tliese and a new building constructed the present 
year the Billings & Edwards Co. are manufacturing machinery. Close 
by the steamboat landing a manufactory was built, in 1881, for Hart 
& Co., wlio began to make shelf hardware. Tlie Pierce Hardware 
Company, with a capital stock of §40,000, is now in the same estab- 
lishment, making hollow hardware. But the leading occupation of 
Rocky Hill people is agricultural, and their productions are much the 
same as those of the parent township. 

In the War of the Rebellion, Rocky Hill, as it ajjpears from the rolls 
of the Adjutant-Gencrars office, contributed one hundred and ten sol- 
diers to the Union army. Of these, six were blacks. The number 
reported to have died in the service was twelve. 

In conclusion, it may be truly said that a view of this place, looking 
westward from the river, will satisfy the observer that here is one of 
the most agreeably picturesque villages in New England, and one that 
naturally affords opportunity for development to a much larger com- 
munity. It is also, at times, the head of sloop navigation of the river 
upon which it is situated. 




XXVII. 
WINDSOR. 

GENERAL HISTORY. 

BY THT? HK.V. KKIKI. II. Tl'TTLE. 

DURING tlic year 1631, Wahiriimacut, an Indian sachem from the 
Connecticut River, visited the governors of Massachusetts and 
Plymouth colonies, in order to induce emigration to the Con- 
necticut valley from hoth these colonies. He pleaded as an inducement 
the fruitfulness of the country, the opportunity for trade in such com- 
modities as corn, and the skins of the beaver and otter ; and he 
pletlged an annual present of a full supply of corn and eighty beaver- 
skins to the Englishmen who would settle in the valley. Governor 
Wintlirop courteously declined the proposition, but Governor Wins- 
low, of Plymouth, consented to go and view the savage paradise. 
His visit must have been satisfactory, for he called himself the " dis- 
coverer" of the river and the valley;* and his favorable account no 
doubt incited the ardor of other explorers who soon followed. The 
earnest solicitation of the Indian sachem may be accounted for in 
the fact that the river Indians were distressed and alarmed because 
Pekoath, the great sachem of the Pcquots, had made war with them 
and was driving them from the country. The assistance of an English 
settlement was desired, therefore, as a protection and defence against 
their powerful enemies. The Plymouth people, notwithstanding the 
refusal of the Massachusetts colony to unite witli them, determined to 
form a trading-company and to establish a trading-post. In .'September, 
1033, John (Jldluim and tlirec others from Dorchester made the journey 
to the Connecticut through the wilderness. The native chiefs showed 
him kindness and made iiim presents, and he carried back with him to 
Dorchester specimens of black lead and Indian hemj). William Holmes 
was selected by the governor of Plymmith to build a trading-house in 
Windsor. With this commission, in the latter part of October, in "a 
large new bark,'" with a daring and adventurous crew, he set sail for 

* The first discovery of the Connecticut w.is in 1614, six ye.irs before tlie settlement at 
Plymouth. The foremost enterprising discoverers at that time were the tliree Dutch nilviga- 
tors, HeuJrick Christacnsen, Adriaen Block, and Conielis Jacobsen Jloy. Block spent the 
winter of 1613-1614 on .Manhattan Island, in building a yacht of si.\teen tons, which lie named 
" Onrust " (Restless), to take the place of his ship, the " Tiger," which had accidentally Iwen 
burned. In the spring he sailed eastward, passing through the rapids of Hell Gate in the East 
Kiver, explored Long Island .Sound from end to end, and di.scovered and entered the Quonehtac- 
cut, or Connecticut, River. He ascended this stream as high as 41° 48', wliere he found an 
Indian village, or fort, belonging to the Nawaa.s.'and named the stream Fresh River. The 
fort of the Nawaas was probably situated near what is now called Wilson Station, about 
midway between AVindsor and Hartford. — Dr. O'Callaguas's History of New XcOitrlands, 
vol. i. "p. 73. 



498 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

the mouth of the Connecticut. He took with him tlic frame of the 
trading-house all fitted, and all the materials which would be required 
to complete it. He had on board Nattawanut and other Indian sachems, 
who afterward sold the land to the Plymouth people. He passed up the 
river without opposition imtil he came to the Dutch fort at Hartford, 
where two pieces of ordnance were brought to bear upon him, and 
he was ordered by the garrison " to strike his colors, or they would fire 
upon him." 

The threat was not carried into execution. Holmes said he had 
the commission of the governor of Plymouth to go up the river, and he 
should go. The Dutch suffered him to sail by, and after proceeding a 
few miles he erected his trading-house near the mouth of the Tuuxis 
(or Farmington) River. " This," says Governor Wolcott, " was the first 
house erected in Connecticut." The point near where Holmes landed 
is now occupied by a fishing-hut, and is called by the boatmen on the 
river Old Point Comfort ; ^ and the meadow lying in the vicinity of 
where the house stood is still called Plymouth Meadow. 

The Dutch governor at Fort Amsterdam, Wouter van Twiller, sent 
a reinforcement to Connecticut in order to drive Holmes from his posi- 
tion. Seventy men with banners spread were prepared to assault the 
Plymouth house ; but, reluctant to shed Ijlood, and finding that it could 
not bo taken without, they came to a parley, and concluded to retreat.''' 
" We did the Dutch no wrong, for we took not a foot of any land they 
bought, but went above them and bought that tract of land which be- 
longed to the Indians we carried with us, and our friends, with whom 
the Dutch had nothing to do." The Dutch made no further demonstra- 
tions against the Plymouth house. In 1633 the small-pox broke out 
among ihe Indians, and in consequence Hall and two otliers fi-om Mas- 
sachusetts, who visited Connecticut in November of that year to trade, 
were obliged to return the following January. The Indians about the 
trading-house fell victims to this disease, and Nattawanut, the chief 
sachem, died therefrom. But " not one of the English was so much as 
sick, or in the least measure tainted with this disease." ^ 

In June, 1635, the pioneers of the Dorchester company came to 
Connecticut and prepared to settle near the Plymouth trading-house, 
much to the surprise of Holmes and his party. After remaining here 
awhile they made explorations up the river, and on their return they 
found that other claimants had arrived. These were Mr. Francis Stiles 
and his twenty men,* who had been sent out in a vessel by Sir Richard 

■ Stiles's History of Windsor, p. 12, note ; Barber's Historical Collections, p. 125. 

- AVintlirop, vol. i. p. 153; O'Callaghan, vol. i. p. 155. 

3 Bradford's Journal. 

* Tlie following is a full list of names of the Stiles party who settled near the Chief Justice 
Ellsworth place. Three of these were females, and tradition has it that Rachel, wife of John 
Stiles, was the first woman who stepped ashore in Windsor. 

Francis Stiles, ageil 35 years. Joan Stiles, aged 35 years. 

Thomas Bassett, " 37 " Henry Stiles, " 3 " 

Thomas Stiles, " 20 " Geo. Chappel, " 20 " 

Thomas Barber, " 21 " Ed. Patteson, " 33 " 

Jo. Dyer, " 28 " Jo. Stiles, " 35 " 

Jo. Reeves, " 19 " Henry Stiles, " 40 " 

Thos. Cooper, " 18 " John Stiles, " 9 months. 

Ed. Preston, " 13 " Rachel Stiles, " 28 years. 

Th& Stiles party shared with the Dorchester men in the first distribution of land in 1640, 
when all the land on the road from the Little or Tuuxis River ' ' to Wni. Hayden s lot " ( Hayden 



WINDSOR 499 

Saltonstall. In this mnflict of claims Stiles was at leugth thwarted, 
and ho removed his stores to a place near where the residence of the late 
Chief Justice Ellsworth was ImiU. The Dorchester party and the Ply- 
mouth people now held the land in dispute. The latter claimed the prior 
right of purchase and occupation, an<l the former relied upon tlie tender 
mercies of God's providence. The Dorchester men therefore continued 
to prepare and improve this '• Lord's waste" of Matianudc (Windsor) 
as the future alj(jdc of themselves and their children. The main liody 
of the Dorchester people followed on the loth of October, 1G3.J. Tlieir 
household goods and provisions were sent .-iround by water, and sixty 
persons, among whom were women and little children, began the slow 
and wearisome journey through the wilderness to the distant settlement. 
They drove their cattle, horses, and swine before them, and tlie frosts 
and snows of winter were hard upon them ere they reached their 
destination. The river was frozen over by the loth of Noveml)er, and 
the vessel containing their goods had not arrived. The winter which 
followed was marked by great suffering. They had insuflicient slielter 
for themselves and tlieir animals, and they could get but part of the 
latter across the river. On the 26th of November thirteen of the num- 
ber resolved to return to Massachusetts. One of them fell through the 
ice and was drowned; the rest reached Dorchestei- in ten days. Tho.se 
who remained in Connecticut suffered extreme destitution, being obliged 
to live on acorns, malt, and grains. Winthrop tells us that they lost 
nearly £2,000 worth of cattle. Most of this first party returned to 
Dorchester in the small vessel "Rebecca." which had providentially aj)- 
peared. IJut. nothing daunted, in the spring of 1()36 they .set out again 
with Mr. Warham, the junior pastor of the church, and a large part of 
its members. With those from DorcJiester there came others from 
Cambridge and Watertowu. Matiauuck was first called Dorchester. 
In February, 1637, the name was changed t(j Windsor.' Notwithstand- 
ing the efforts of the colonial government to discourage emigration, it 
did not cease until 1637. 

For several years after the settlement of Windsor the peojjle were 
harassed with wars. They enclosed themselves within their fortress or 
palisade, and at all times, night or day, whether laboring in the fields 
or wending their way to the sanctuary, were armed and prepared to 
encounter the secret ioe. The original boundaries ^ of the town were 
about forty-si.K miles in circumference, lying on both sides of the Con- 
necticut River, and e.xtending from Simsliuiy to the Ellington Hills. 
Ten distinct tribes were said to be within the limits of the town, and 
about the vear 1670 it was estimated that there were nineteen Indians 
to one Englishman.3 ^his estimate is shown by Dr. Stiles to be much 
exaggerated. The whole number of Indians within the present limits 

St.ition) was laid out into home-lots. The claim that Stiles and his part)- arrived before 
the Dorchester iwople has been questioned. The iirst that we know of the Jlassachusetts 
settlers at Windsor is from Jonathan Brewster's letter, dated Mutianuck, ,Iiily 6. 1635, m 
which ho states that the Massachusetts men were anivins .dmost daily, and he think,s they 
intende.1 to settle; though he does not call them Dorchester nun, as those settling at W indsor 
were afterward designated. Stiles and his party wen' sent from Boston .Tune 26, 163.5, and 
he evidently had not arrived when Brewster wrote, July 6 of the same year. — Jabez a. 
Havdex, in " Hartford t'ourant" of Sept. 26, 1883. 

' t'olonial Records, vol. i. p. 7. . 

■^ F..ist Windsor was organized as a distinct town in 1768. Ellington was organizeil m 1, St.. 

' Trumbull's History of Connecticut, vol. i. pp. 158, 159. 



500 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

of Windsor probably did not exceed three hundred, and all within the 
original bounds ^ did not exceed one thousand. But it is evident that 
they were sufficiently numerous to require constant vigilance on the 
part of the early settlers. About the year 1646 the Windsor Indians 
did the inhabitants much damage by burning up large quantities of 
their personal property ; and three years before, when a general insur- 
rection of the Indians against the English was apprehended, in every 
town the people were oliliged to keep watch and ward every night, from 
sunset to sunrise. The Indians of Windsor were generally peaceable 
and friendly ; for it had been their purpose at the outset, in asking the 
English to come among them, to insure tlicir friend.ship and protection 
against the Pequots and the Mohawks, who held them in subjection. 
But a wise caution and vigilance became necessary. The first court, 
of which Roger Ludlow was a member, had ordered that the people 
should not sell arms and ammunition to the Indians. In subsequent 
regulations cider, beer, and strong liquors were prohibited from being 
sold, because it would be " to the hazard of the lives and jicace both of 
the English and the Indians." The greatest number of Indians were 
on the east side of the Connecticut River, and they were called Podunks ; 
but all the different clans who lived on either bank of the Connecticut 
were called River Indians. In the wars which subsequently followed, 
Windsor bore her full share of the burden and the trial. 

At the court, when the name Windsor was given to the Dorchester 
settlement, the lioundaries were defined as follows in the Colonial 
Records : — 

At a Court held, February 21, 1637, " It is ordered y' the plantaCon called 
Dorchester shalbee called Windsor," and at the same court " It is ordered that 
the plantacon nowe called Newtowne shalbe called and named bj- the name 
of Harteford Towne." A committee previously appointed reported that the 
bounds of Windsor " shall extend towards the Falls on the same side the planta- 
tion stands to a brooke called Kittle Bi'ooke, and soe overtlie Create Piiver uppon 
the same line that New Towne and Dorchester doth betweene them." It was or- 
dered by the court tliat " The boundes betweene Harteford & Windsor is agreed 
to be att the vpper end of the greate meadowe of tlie saide Hartefoixl toward 
Windsor att the Pale that is nowe there sett vpp by the saide Harteford v/'^ is 
abuttinge vppon the gi'eat River vppon a due east line & into the Countrey from 
the saide Pale vppon a due west line as paralell to the saide east line as farr as 
they have now paled & afterward the boundes to goe into the Countrey vppon 
the same west line. But it is to be soe much shorter towards Windsor as the 
place where the Girte that comes along att th' end of the saide meadowe & foils 
into the saide greate Eiver is shorter then their Pale & over the saide greate 
Riuer the saide Plantacon of Windsor is to come to the Riveretts mouth that 
falls into the saide greate River of Conectecott and there the saide Harteford is 
to runn due east into the Countrej-." ^ 

The rivalry and dispute as to possession of the land at Matianuck 
terminated in the spring of 1637. Thomas Prince sold the land owned 
by the Plymouth company to the people of Windsor, and made a formal 
transfer as agent of the colony of New Plymouth. The following is a 

1 Stilea's History of AViudsor, pp. 86-88. 
^ Colonial Recoi-ds, vol. i. p. 7. 




J^SAP of 

WINDSOR -p 



502 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

copy of the deed on the town records, to which is appended a comment 
by the recorder, Matthew Grant : — 

" Au agreement made between M^' Thomas Prince for and ou behalfe of New 
Plimouth in America, and y' inhabitants of ^Vindsor on the River of Connecti- 
cott in y^ sayd America y' 15 day of May 1637. In Primus on consideration 
£'i7: lOs: to be paj'ed about 3 months hence, y" said M'- Prince doth sell unto 
y"^ inhabitants of Windsor all that Land meadow and upland from a marlsed tree 
a quarter of a mile above M'' Stiles, jN^orth, to y" great swamp next y^ bounds 
of Hartford, South, for bredth, and in length into y^ country toward Paquanack, 
so far as Zequasson and Nattawanet two sachems hath or had as their Proprietys, 
all which hath been purchased of y° said Zequasson and Nattawanet for a 
valuable consideration, y° particulars whereof do appeare in a Noate now pro- 
duced by y° sayd M"'' Prince, allwayes excepted & reserved to y" house of y° 
said New Plimouth, 43 acres of meado and 3 quarters, and in upland on y° 
other side of y'' swamp, next their meado, 40 acres viz. 40 rod in bredth, and 
in length 160 rod into y° country for y^ present, and after wards as other lotts 
are layed out, they are to have their proportion, within their bounds aforesayd. 
There is likewise excepted 70 rod in bredth towards y^ sayd bounds of y° 
sayd Hartford in an Indifferent place to be agreed upon, and to goe in length 
to y" end of y" bounds aforesayd. In witness whereof y^ parties abouesayd have 
set their hands and scales y' day and yeare above written.' 

" Signed, sealed and delivered. In presence of 

JosiAS WiNSLow. Roger Ludlow. 
Thos. Maeshfield. William Phelps. 
The mark of Wm. Butler. John Witchfield." 

" The above deed or instrument is a true copy of the original being compared 
therewith ApL 7, 1673 per us 

John Talcott 
John Allyn, Sec'y 

Then follows the explanatory note by Matthew Grant : — 

"This bai-gain as it is aboue expi-est, and was written and assigned, I can 
certify does not mention or speak to every particular of y° bargayn as it was 
issued witli M''' Prince before it was put in writing. This should have been 
y" frame of it. Dorchester men tliat came from y" Mass. baj' up here to Con- 
necticott to settel in y' place now called Windsor, Plimouth men challenged 
propriety here by a purchase of y'^ land from y" Indians, whereupon in y^ latter 
end of y' 35 year, some of our Principal men meeting with some of our Plimouth 
men in Dorchester, labored to driue a bargayn with them to bye out their, 
wliich they challenged by purchas, and came to termes and then May '37 as 
it is aboue exprest, then our company being generally together (that intended 
to settel here) M'' Prince being come up here in y'^ behalf of y^ Plimouth 
men, that were partners in their purchas issued y° bargayn with us. We were 
to pay them £37: 10s. for their whole purchas, which M"'- Prince presented to 
us in writing, only they reserved y' 16 part off for themselues & their 16 part 
of meado land came by measuring of y" meado to 43 acres 3 quarters, which was 
bounded out to M'' Prince, he being present, by myself appointed by our com- 
pany, in Plimouth meadow so called by that account; their 16 part in upland 
they took up neere y' bounds of Hartford, 70 rod in bredth by y" riuer and 
so to continew to y° end of y° bounds. They were also to have one acre to 

1 Here ends the deed on the AVindsor Records. The signatures are omitted, but are 
affixed to tlie copy of the deed in tlie Colony Records. Mr. Prince's signature is omitted from 
botli records. 



[ Asst." 



WINDSOR. 503 

build on. upon y° liill against their inciido. Also M'- Prince sayed he had 
purchased y° land on y" East side of y° rincr that lies between Scantic and 
Xamerick, and that we should hauo in lew of 40 rod in bredth of upland 
behind the swamp against their nieado, and to run in length IGO rod from the 
swamp, to be forty- acres, and afterward to have their proportion within their 
boundii, according to a 40 acre man, in the commons. 
" This 1 witness, 



^yz<^(^2^ (^oco^^^j- 



Tluis the Dorchester people were left in undisturbed possession of 
their location in Windsor, and made a permanent settlement on the 
west side of the Connecticut, their land on the east side being used for 
pasturage. 

The first land owned by the English, purchased by the Plymouth 
company from Sequassen and Nattawanut in 1G33, and transferred 
to the Dorchester people in 1G37, was afterward, in 1G70, repurchased 
by the town of Windsor from Arramamett and Repequaui, the suc- 
cessors of Natta- 

date, " Nassahc- 
gan's propriety," which embraced the district of Poquonnock, is 
mentioned as already "sold to the inhabitants of Windsor." William 
Phelps, Sr., had bought it in 1635, and being unalde to prove full 
payment, honestly repurchased the same in March, 1G65.' The next 
purchase before the Pequot War embraced the large tract of Windsor 
Locks, the northern third of Windsor, and the soutliern part of Suf- 
field. In 1G42, March 13, "Nassahegan of Paquanick" deeded to John 
Mason, of Windsor, all his " lands lying between Powcjuaniock and Mas- 
saqua" (Simsbury), only excepting a portion of the meadow occupied 
by the Indians, known as Indian Neck. April 21, 1G59, we find George 
Griswold ])urchasing of certain Indians named, " nine acres more or 
loss," and Sept. 11, 1662, Nassahegan, of 

Poquonnock, being indebted £3 5s. to rs- .r C>» 

George Griswold and delaying to pay, •*^<'^'^^'*^J^<7vO^ 
gives for full payment all his land in In- C_^ 

dian Keck. Again, in 166G James Enno 

and John Moses, agents of the town of 
Windsor, purchased from Nassahegan a 
yf tract of 28,000 acres, on the south side of 

^yiX^^CI^ .^.^^ the Rivulet to the 

foot of Massaco 3-„_f.-, ^>, _^ , 

Mountain, and on -^^^ ^^^ 
the north side to the " mountain that answers 
the foresaid motnitain," and " eastward to a 

new way [or road], passing out of Pipe-stave Swamp going to West- 
field," and southward from the Rivulet to the Mill Brook " as it runs 

' Stilos's History of Windsor, p. 103. 



504 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

into the Wilderness and so to the Mountains." All these jmrchases 
were honestl}' made, and in many cases repurehased, so that there was 
a grain of truth in the grim pleasantry of Sir Edmund Andros when 
he disputed the tenures by which the colonists held their lands ; " An 
Indian deed is no better than the scratch of a bear's paw." But the 
result, so far as Windsor purchases were concerned, was satisfactory 
to all parties, and the present estimation of values is not to be taken 
into account. The first Indian deeds of sale at Windsor, Hartford, 
and Wethersfield were never preserved.^ 

Windsor bore her burden in the war against the Pequots. The tribe 
boldly asserted : " We are the Pequots ; and have killed Englishmen, 
and can kill them as mosquitoes, and we will go to Connecticut, and kill 
men, women, and children, and carry away the horses, cows, and hogs." 
In the midst of the threatened calamities the General Court met at 
Hartford, May 1, 1637, and made a declaration, remarkable in its sim- 
plicity and force, of an offensive war ; — 

" It is ordered that there shall be an offensive war against the Pequot, and 
there shall be ninety men levied out of the three plantations of Hartford, Weth- 
ersfield, and Windsor." 

Windsor was to furnish thirty men, six suits of armor, and a supply 
of sixty bushels of corn, fifty pieces of pork, thirty pounds of rice, and 
four cheeses. The corn was to be ground, and one half made into bis- 
cuit. There was ordered " one hogshead of good beer, for the captain, 
and minister, and sick men ;" and, " if there be only three or four gal- 
lons of strong water, two gallons of sack." On the 10th of May the 
army embarked at Hartford in " a pink, a pinnace, and a shallop," ^ an 

hundred and sixty men, ninety 
from the plantations, and seventy 
Mohcgan Indians. The re- 
nowned John Mason, of Wind- 
sor, was appointed captain of 
the army, the Rev. Mr. Stone 
chaplain, and Dr. Thomas Pell, 
of Saybrook fort, surgeon. Mr. 
Pynchon was the owner of the shallop. After a night spent in prayer, 
and " encouraged by tlie Rev'd ministers," the fleet, with many Indian 
canoes, set sail for the mouth of the river. The Windsor people at 
home erected a fortification called a palisado.^ 

The names of the soldiers contributed by Windsor to the Pequot 

1 Dr. Stiles's recommendation (page 9 of Preface, and also page 398) concernins care in pre- 
serving the ancient records has been heeded. A new town-hall has been erected in the cen- 
tre of the town, with flre-jiroof safe for probate records and fire-proof vanlt for town records. 
In the first eleven volumes there was no index of the grantors, but only of the grantees. This 
defect has been remedied by much painstaking labor on the part of Deacon John B. Woodford, 
the present town clerk, who has made a complete inde.x according to the Burr method, 
contdiuing over twenty thousand names. 

- Mason's History of the Pequot War. 

2 " This was a stockade, erected on the north bank of the Tunxis, the east, south, and 
west lines of which stood directly on the brow of the hill. The palisades were strengthened 
by a ditch on the outside, the earth of which was thrown up against them. The north line 
ran across on the north line of, and parallel to, the north line of the present Congregational 
parsonage. The whole enclosure was a little less than one quarter of a mile square. Into 
this palisade were gathered, for safety, all the families of the town, with their cattle and ef- 
fects, wdiile Captain Mason and his little array went down to fight the Pequots. A week after 




WINDSOR. 505 

expedition cannot all be ^ivcn with certainty. Dr. Stilos mentions 
fifteen who arc believed to luivc belonsrcd to this town ; namely, 
Captain John Mason, Serfreant Benedict Alvord, Thomas L!arl)er, 
Thomas Buckland, Georj^e Cliappcl, John Dyer, James Kfrnleston, 
Nathan Gillet, Thomas fJridley, Thomas Stiles, Serfreant Tliomas Stares, 
Richard Osborn, Tliomas Parsons, Edward Pattison, William Thrall. 
A large grant of land was given to each soldier. 

Windsor's proportion of the war-tax of £620 levied by the Court 
Feb. 9, 1638, was £158 2s., to he paid either in money, in wampum 
four a penny, or in good and merchantable beaver at 9s. per pound. 
March 8th, ''It is ordered that Captain Mason shall l)c a public military 
olliccr of the plantations of Connecticut, and shall train the military 
men thereof in each plantation, according to the days ajipointeil, and 
shall have 40/. per annum to be paid out of the treasury quarterly." 
All persons over sixteen years of age were required to bear arms, 
except church officers, commissioners, and such as were excused by the 
Court. Windsor's magazine contained one barrel of powder and three 
hundred pounds of lead. Every soldier, under penalty of five shillings, 
was to ''have continually in his house in a readiness, one half a pound 
of good powder, two pounds of bullets suitable to his piece ; one pound 
of match if his piece be a match lock." 

Previous to the year 1638 the colonies had legislated l)y their courts, 
which were invested with all the legislative and judicial functions. 
The first court was held at Newtown (Hartford), on the 26th of April, 
1636. Of the two magistrates from Windsor who were members of 
this court, Roger Ludlow stands darum et venerahile nonwn. Wise 
in counsel, ripe in judgment, a statesman of far-sighted policy and 
liberality of sentiment, he is accounted among the fathers of legislation 
who " builded better than they knew." To him belongs the honor of 
first unfolding that representative system peculiar to our government. 
He probably drafted the constitution of Connecticut, which contains the 
germ of all constitutions since adopted by the different States and by 
the American Republic. 

It is to be expected, then, that wc shall find in the civil organization 
of the towns the same features which marked the general government. 
An orderly and decent government established, we must i)lacc ourselves 
on a level with their times, and imagine ourselves amid their surround- 
ings, if we would estimate aright the necessity of such rules as they 

their departure Mr. Ludlow writes, from within the palisade, to his friend Mr. Pynclicon, in 
Sprinslield, giving an Indian a new coat for carrying this letter : ' I have received your let- 
ter wherein you express that you are well fortified, hut few hands. For my part niy spirit is 
ready to sink within me, when, upon alarms, which are daily, I think of your condition, that 
if the case be never so dangerous, we can neither help you, nor you us. But 1 must confess, 
both you and ourselves do stand merely in the power of our God. . . . Our plantations 
are so gleaned by that small fleet we sent out [he jileaded military necessity for »;'•<'"?; *"• 
Pyncheon's boats without his leave ; the boats were at or below Warehouse roint] that 
those that remain are not able to supply our watches, which are day and night ; lh.it our peo- 
pie are scarce able to stand upon their legs ; and, for planting, wc are in a like condition with 
you ; what we plant is before our dooi-s, — little anywhere else.' The houses witliin the pahsado 
were built around and facing ail oi)en square ; around the rear of their house-lot-s and next the 
palisade, was a two-rod road for public convenience. The present Palisade Green is much less 
than its original size ; it was then as wide, or nearly so, at the north as at the south end. On 
the Green stood their meeting-house, and in the southwest comer was the aiieieiit cemetery, con- 
taining the remains of Windsor's early dead." — Jabez H. Havden's CaUeuitinl Address, p. 1.3. 



506 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

felt compelled to adopt. Of town regulations, as well as those of the 
State, it may with truth be said that " for one law that has been passed 
of a bigoted or intolerant character, a diligent explorer into the English 
court records or statute books, for evidences of bigotry and rcTolting 
cruelty, could find twenty in England." ^ 

Their civil requirements were founded on virtue and religion. Hence 
a town resident, and one who could participate in town affairs, must 
have the vote of the town as to " good character, blameless life, and 
honest conversation." Their civil and ecclesiastical regulations can 
scarcely be separated, for good citizenship was based upon Christian 
principles. In 1637 the General Court enacted that 

" No young man that is neither married, nor hath any servant, and be noe 
publick officer, shall keep house by himself, without consent of the Town 
wlierc he lives first had, under pain of l!0 shiUings per week." 

" No Master of a family shall give Habitation or entertainment to any 
young man to sojourn in his family, but by the allowance of the Inhabitants 
of the Said Town where he dwells, under the like Penalty of 20 shillings 
per Week." 

The town records of Windsor^ have several entries showing per- 
mision granted to certain persons to sojourn together or to entertain 
others. 

"Dec. 1, 1651. John Moses had allowance to sojourn with Simon Miller 
in his house." 

Also, " Sept. 13, 1652. It is assented that Isaac Sheldcn and Samuel 
Rockwell shall keep house together in the house that is Isaac's, so they carry 
themselves soberly and do not entertain idle persons, to the evil expense of 
time by night or day." 

Also, " that John Bennet should be entertained by William Hayden in 
his family." 

Also, 1656, "that no person or persons whatsoever shaU be admitted 
inhabitant in this town of Windsor, without the approbation of the town, or 
townsmen, that are, or shall be, from year to year in being. Nor shall any 
man sett or sell any house or land so as to bring in .any to be inhabitant into 
the town without the approbation of the townsmen, or giving in such security 
as may be accepted to save the town from damage." 

There were also strict regulations to insure morality and virtue in 
social relations. The town-meeting was established, and all were obliged 
to attend it : delinquents were fined, unless they could give sufficient 
excuse. The town officers were townsmen, constables, and surveyors. 
The townsmen, or selectmen as they are now called, had authority in 
educational matters ; were to see that every child and apjjrentice was 
taught to read and write ; and were to examine the children of the 
town in the Catechism. The constable was also an officer of superior 
dignity, and a town was considered incorporated when a constable was 
appointed therein by the Court. The first constable in Windsor was 
Mr. Henry Wolcott, appointed in 1636. Jolm Porter was his successor 
in 1639. The town was afterward authorized to choose two constables, 
and the office appears to have been striven after, as in February, 1666, 
Jolui Strong and Benedictus Alvord, " after much contending," were 

1 HoUister's History of Connecticut. ^ Stilea's History of Windsor, pp. 54, 55. 



WINDSOR. 507 

chosen for the year cnsuinpr. Tlie office of tow-n clerk was first created 
by tlie Court in KISH. Dr. Bray Rossctcr was the first clerk of AVindsor, 
and held that ofliee until he removed to Guil- 
ford in 1G52. The town .stirvcvor was an- C^»_,, O /^ JU 
other important office. JIattliew Grant, "^^^ Jg/fC^t*-* 
whose name is so conspicuous in the early ""*— ^ 
history of the town, discliarccd the duties of this oflice. ITc was 
also the second town clerk, and continued " measuring of land and 
frettina: out of lots to men " for a (leriod of forty years. Other town 
oHieci-s were ap])()inted, and the name of the ollice will perhaps suf- 
ciently indicate the duties to be dist'harp;ed. These were " ciiimney- 
viewcrs," " fence-viewers," " pounders" of stray cattle, "way-wardens " 
or surveyors of highways, and '■ bound-goers or perambulators," who 
dctcnninod disputes as to boiuidary-lincs. " Liquor for bound-goers " 
is a frequent item charged among the expenses of the town. There 
was also the town baililf, or collector, who looked after tho.se who 
refused or neglected to pay their rates. The " brander of horses" 
was another important dignitary established in each town by the 
General Court in 16G5 ; lie was not only to brand, l)ut "shall make 
an entry of all horses so branded, with their natural and artificial 
marks, in a book kept by him for that purpose, who shall have 6d. for 
each horse so branded and entered," and a penalty of 20/. for every one 
who neglected to do so. The Windsor mark was the letter " I." " There 
is still in Windsor," says Dr. Stiles, " a l)ook kept by Timothy Loomis, 
whilom town clerk, containing all the marks, etc., of every man's horses, 
put down with a particularity which evidences the importance attached 
to it." 

The " lister," or assessor, was another officer. At first the lands 
were classed in several grades, each class being put in the list at 
a certain price. So also witii the live-stock. However, in 1075, when 
a tax was laid for the support of the Rivulet ferry, it was laid upon 
that class of property likely to receive the benefit. There were then 
five classes of tax-payers. Of the first class, styled " family, horse, and 
four oxen," there were twelve ; of tiie second, " family, horse, and two 
oxen," there were fifty-four ; of the third, " family and horse," there 
were forty-four ; of the fourth, " only families," seventeen ; of the fifth, 
" single men," thirty-eight, of whom fifteen owned horses. It will be 
observed that no tax is laid on vehicles liecause there were none. 

Of the General and Particular Courts sufficient is said elsewhere. 
The Town courts, for tlie trial of small causes, were established by the 
General Court in 1039. The magistrates or assistants were judges of 
tlie Particular Courts. Many crimes l)Oside murder were visited with 
cajjital punishment, and the sin of lying was punished with fines, stocks, 
or imprisonment. The records of the Particular Court .show the sever- 
ity with which slander, swearing, drunkenness, and contempt of civil 
or Divine authority were visited. In May, 1004. the Particular Court 
ordered that : — 

« H D or his wife should severely correct their daughter witli .i 

rod on the naked body in tlie ]>iesence of Mrs. Wolcott and Goodc Bancroft 
this day, and in case it be not attended to this day, the constable is to sec it 
done, the next opjiortunity, . . . tor rei>ioachful speeches which she hath 
spoken against the wife of John Bissell." 



508 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Sept. 5, 1639, Thomas Gridley, of "Windsor, was ordered to be 
whipped at Hartford, — 

"For refusing to watch, strong suspicion of druukness, contemptuous 
words against the orders of the court, quarreling and striking Mr. Stiles's 
man." 

June 2, 1664. " Mr. Nicolas Stevens for his cursing at Windsor before 
the Train band last Monday, is to pay to the public treasury 10 shillings." 

May 12, 1668. "Nicolas Wilton, for wounding the wife of John Brooks, 
and Mary Wilton, the wife of Nicholas Wilton, for contemptuous and re- 
proachful terms by her put upon one of the Assistants, are adjudged, she to 
he whi]5t 6 stripes upon the naked body, next training day at Windsor ; and 
the said Nicholas is hereby disfranchised of his privilege of freedom in this 
Corporation, and is to pay for the Horse and Man that came with him to the 
Court this day, and for what damage he hath done to the said Brooks his 
wife, and sit in the stocks the same day his wife is to receive her punish- 
ment. The Constables of Windsor to see this attended." 

1668. "John Porter, having been accused by this court for defaming of 
some who have been in authority in this court, do order that he make full 
acknowledgement of the same, and manifest his repentance the next training 
day at Windsor, or else that he appear at the next county court to answer 
for his mis-carriage therein." 

May 15, 1724, it is recorded : " Friend Shivee sat in the pillory and 
his right ear cut off for making plates for bills." Branding with the 
letter " B " for burglary, and whipping " at the cart's tail " for crimes 
against morality, were also methods of punishment. Tradition places 
the whipping-post upon Broad Street Green, where the sign-post now 
stands. It was used as late as 1714, and the remains of the old stocks 
were to be seen on the Green in 1806. The colony laws against " ex- 
cess of apparel " seem strange to us in these days, and that against the 
use of tobacco is in striking contrast with the habits of the present 
inhabitants of Windsor, who encourage the growth of the plant almost 
under the eaves of the sanctuary. Equally in contrast is the conduct 
at the old town-meetings with that of the present day : — 

1696-1697. "At a town meeting, January 19, it was voted that whoso- 
ever shall at any town meeting speak without leave from the Moderator of the 
meeting, he shall forfeit one shilling, and it [is] to be restrained by the con- 
stable for the use of the town." 

The first highway in Connecticut was laid out between Hartford and 
Windsor, by order of the General Court, April 5, 1638. 

Many interesting regulations cannot be inserted here in full. Five 
shillings were added by the town to the ten shillings paid by the country 
for every wolf that shoidd be killed within the bounds of the town. 
Order was given concerning crossing by ferry at the rivulet on the 
Lord's Day ; the magistrates and elders taking precedence, and " not 
above thirty-five persons at a time were to go in the great canoe, nor 
above six persons at a time in the little canoe," under penalty of five- 
pence. Particular orders were given concerning the ferry on ordinary 
occasions: "Jan. 1, 1650, an agreement was made with John Brooks 
to keep the ferry over the Rivulet for one year," the town to provide 
him a dwelling ten feet in breadth and fifteen in length ; and subse- 
quently there appear specific agreements with parties who are to pro- 
vide passage over this Rivulet. 



WINDSOR. 



509 



^^ 



Dec. 13, 1658, Provision was "made upon the top of the meeting house, 
from the Lanthorne to tlie ridge of the house, to wallc conveniently, to sound 
a trumpet or drum to give warning to meetings." 

We have seen that the early settlers were from necessity accus- 
tomed to the use of arms. The town of Windsor was called upon and 
promptly responded in all the earlier and later military 
cxi)cditions. We have already remarked upon their 
hardships and privations, their operations offensive and 
defensive, in the Pequot War. Scattered tliroii<rhout 
the town records are frequent references to their mili- 
tary organizations. In ltj43, when there was fear of a 
general insurrection of the Indians against the English, 
the people were ohliged to keep watch and ward every 
night, from sunset to sunrise. There was another 
general alarm in 16o3, consequent upon the hostilities 
between the Dutch and the English, when it was feared 
the Indians would be incited to a general insurrection. 
The United Colonies ordered tliat five hundred men 
should be raised out of the four colonies. Connecti- 
cut's portion of these was sixty-six, of whom twelve 
were from the town of Windsor. The origin of " Gen- 
eral Training-day " may be traced to the order of the 
Court on the 8th of September of this year : — 

" The Court doth grant the soldiers of these four towns 
on the Eiver [Hartford, Windsor, Wethersfield, and Middle- 
town] and Farmington one day for a General Training to- 
getlier — and tlioy have liberty to send tn Captain Mason to 
desire his presence, and to give him a call to command in chief. 
and to appoint the day ; provided that each town shall have 
power to reserve a guard at home, for the safety of the towns, 
as occasion shall serve." 

In 1637 Captain Mason had been appointed public 
military oflicer to train the military in each plantation.' ^^'^f^ 

It was on training-day, when the people were assem- \j«/-xl^ 
bled, that the town business was generally transacted. Ni' CX 

March 11, 1657-8, was first organized a troop of horse, ' ^p 

under Major Mason. They were thirty-seven in niim- ^ y 
her, and seventeen were from Windsor. For four years ^ J 

the troopers met at some place of general rendezvous ; j« ^ 

but in 1662 they were allowed to train in the towns >J fts^ 

to which they belonged, but were regarded as "one Jo S 

entire Troop," consisting of several parts, who are to "^ <to 
unite and attend the General Training as one entire 
body of horse." The General Assembly at Hartford, Oct. 10, lti67, 
decreed as follows : — 

"The inhabitants of Windsor having improved themselves in building a 
fort, this Court, for their cncoumgenicnt, doth release the Train soldiere of 
Windsor two days of their training this Michael Tide, and one day in the 
Spring." 



1 Colonial Records, vol. i. p. 15. 



510 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

This is supposed to have been the Old Stone Fort, or Stonghton 
house, nearly opposite the residence of the late Lemuel Welch, which 
was pulled down about the year 1809. Of what constituted the mili- 
tary supplies in 1669-1670, the Windsor recorder certified at Court 
" tiiat they had 300 lbs. of Powder and 700 lbs. of lead for their town 
stock." 

In 1675, at the breaking out of King Philip's War, we find Windsor 
partaking of the general consternation lest the New England tribes 
should band together against the whites. To the prosecution of the 
war the town contributed her full proportion of troops, having sent at 
the different levies about one hundred and twenty-five. Captain Ben- 
jamin Newberry commanded the Hartford County troops sent to the 
defence of New London and Stonington. Again the Council ordered 
the night watch, and " that one fourth part of each town be in arms 
every day by turns. ... It is also ordered, that, dining these present 
commotions with the Indians, such persons as have occasion to work 
in the fields, shall work in companies; if they be half a mile from 
town, not less than six in a company, with their arms and ammimition 
well fixed and fitted for service." Scouting-parties were sent out con- 
tinually for the prevention of danger to travellers upon the roads be- 
tween town and town. Sergeant Joseph Wadsworth, of Hartford, and 
John Grant, of Windsor, were ordered to proceed to Westfield and 
Springfield, each commanding twenty men. Of two hundred bushels 
of wheat to be ground and baked into biscuit, ordered on the 28th of 
September for the supply of the army, Windsor was to furnish fifty 
bushels. 

At this period all the towns were ordered to be fortified, and the 
weak and remote settlements of the colony to be protected. The United 
Colonies decided to attack the Narragansetts, who had been persuaded 
by the arts of Philip, and raised an army of a thousand men to attack 
them in their principal fort in the winter. Connecticut sent as her 
quota three hundred Englishmen and one hundred and fifty Mohegan 
and Pequot Indians, in five companies, under charge of Captains See- 
ley, Gallup, Mason, Watts, and Marshall, of Windsor. In that bold 
stroke against the Narragansetts the Connecticut troops turned the 
tide of battle. Windsor had her names upon the roll of honor. Cap- 
tain John Mason, a son of the hero of the Pequot War received a wound 

that proved to be 

S^^^Q 1 ^ ^^.JP mortal. He died 

a^^^^^f-^.^ — S*!" g^^j- 

^■•-^ Samuel Mar- 

shall was killed " as he ascended the tree before the log-house." 
Edward Chapman, Nathaniel Pond, Richard Saxton, and Ebenezer 
Dibble received wounds from which tliey died. 

In February, 1675-6, the Indians wei-e so troublesome and threat- 
ening on the east side of the river that the inhabitants were obliged 
either to establish garrisons into which were brought all their cattle and 
pro\'isions, or to convey the same over to the west side. In the Cana- 
dian campaign, in 1709, Captain Matthew Allyn was in command of 
a company from Windsor ; and we find him writing to his wife from the 
camp at Wood Creek, that he himself, '• Tim Plielps, Obadiah Owen, 



WINDSOR. 51 1 

Nat. Taylor, and Bartlctt are sick, Taylor the worst." > In Timothy 
Loomis's manuscripts occurs the following record : — 

" Tho Training Day they had throughout the Colonies to press souldere to go 
tako Canada was the Gth of July, 1711. There went out of Col. Allyn's com- 
pany seven. Tlio names are as follows : Joseph Holconih, Thomas Gillt-tt, ]{en- 
jamin Howard, Benj. Barher, Benedict Alvord, Ehenezer Cook, Nathan Griawold. 
They set away from Windsor, July 10, 1711. They returned to Windsor aj-aino 
Oct. 12, 1711." 

Captain Moses Dimond's company in the same service had five 
Windsor men, — Lieutenant Samuel Bancroft, Nathaniel Griswold, 
Joseph Griswold, Sergeant Na- 
thaniel Pinney, Isaac Pinney. y^ . Cd—^^ 

In the futile and disastrous war y^ pV^^^^ ^lyyryitJ ^ 
against the Spanish West Indies, \o ^^ 

three thousand four hundred men 

died in two days. Of the one thousand from New England there were 

scarcely a hundred survivors. 
/O ^i,£Qr /it G^ Though few perished hv the 

O^-V-i/yuT Jm C^ ^ 'i-^^1^ enemy, it is computed" tliat 



l/ 



from tiie first attack on Car- 
thagcna to the arrival of the 

fleet at Jamaica in 1741, twenty thousand of the Euglish had died. 

There were Windsor men ^^ y^ 

in this calamitous expedi- .S^^j^^^^^'-^^^C^W^OTy^^Q 

company for Cuba volun- 



tion. 



s caiamiious expeui- ,JS(TU^e^y^~yVc^iiJ^^^.^^. ^ 

In Captain Allyn's ^ ^ ^^ ^^*^' (X/T^^^,,^-^ 

ny for Cuba volun- ' 

teercd Thomas Elgar, Alexander Alvord, Cyrus Jackson, Asahel Spen- 
cer, Aaron Cook. In the State archives are found the names of Return 
Strong, Nathaniel Haydcn, and Roger Newberry .^ 

' Wolcott Manuscripts. 

2 The town liooks contain this record of Roger Newberry : — 

" Kogir Nfwlic-ny Esq. Capt. of one of His JIajcstie's Companies belonging to Connecti- 
cut, and Listed in HisMajestie's Service in y« war against y' Spanish West Indies dyed {accord- 
ing to thi- btst account that is yet given) May 6, 1741. In his Ueturn from Curthaguna to 
Jimica about Three days before ye Transport arrived at Jimiea." 

Tlie following is an exact copy of an old obituary notice of this distinguished citizen of 
Windsor ; — 

"Windsor July 29, 1741. Last Monday wo had the Melancholy news of the Death of 
the Worthy Capt. Koger Newberry who went from this Town on the Expedition, lie was 
well descended. The Honorable Major Benjamin Newberry that had adventured his Life in 
his Country's service iu the Indian war, and sate several years att the Councill iHiard, was his 
Grandfather. Capt. IJenjainiu Newberry, who died of Sickness in the Expedition formed 
against Canada, 1709, was his father. 

" This Gentleman had a Liberal Education Bestowed unon him which he was careful to 
Improve and was an accomplished mathematician and Good Historian. He always Carrvod 
about with him a Tiively Sense of the Divine providence and of man's accountablencss to his 
Maker of all Ids tho'ts, words and actions, and gave his Constant Attendance on the Worship 
of God in tlie Public and Private Exercises of it, was Just iu his Dealings, a Sure friend and 
faithful Monitor. 

" He liad a very Quick and Clear apprehension of things, a solid Judgement & "Tcnaceous 
memon- ; his Discourse and Conversation was alfable and Instructive and so Peculiarly win- 
ning tliat most were his Real friends, as were aciuaintcd with hini. His mind wius formed for 
Business, which he followed with an Indefatigable aplycalion by which he not only discharged to 
Good Acceptance tlie public Trusts that were put upon him, but also advanced his own Estate. 

"In May 1740, he being then a member of the Genendl Assembly was piteht upon by 
the Governor"aiid Councill, yea, he had the sulfrage of tlic Assembly to Invite him to U'ad one 
company of the Troops fiuni this Collony in tliis Expedition. Ho took it into Consideration 



512 MEMOKIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

In the expedition against Crown Point and Niagara in 1755, Benja- 
min Allyn, Esq., of Windsor, was appointed captain of the fourth 
company in the third regiment, and eighty-five men enlisted under him, 
nearly all of whom were from this town. In the muster-roll of General 
Lyman's company, in camp at Montreal, Sept. 4, 1760, may be found 
many names from the Poquonnock district. 

The assault upon Quebec began at two different points during a 
furious snow-storm on the evening of the 31st of December, 1775. One 
party was led by General Montgomery in person, and the other by 
Colonel Benedict Arnold. The commanding general was killed at the 
head of his division while entering the city, and Arnold was wounded 
while rapidly advancing under the fire from the ramparts. In the 
assault made by Arnold's division, and first to mount the barricade, 
were Captain Seth Hanchett, of Sufiield, and Elijah Marshall, of Wind- 
sor. Hanchett's voice is said to have been heard above the din of bat- 
tle animating his comrade in these words : " Walk up, Marshall ; our 
mothers are at home praying for us, and the enemy can't hurt us." 
Theophilus Hide, of Windsor, was among the killed, and Elijah Marshall 
and Daniel Rice were taken prisoners. 

Several Windsor men participated on the night of the memorable 
4th of March, 1776, when the Heights of Dorchester were so secretly 

fortified, and when the works were 
" raised with an expedition equal 
to that of the genii belonging to 
Aladdin's wonderful lamp." As 
/"^ General Howe himself expressed 

I /^ it, " It must have been the em- 

^ ployment of at least twelve thou- 

sand men. I know not what I shall do ; the rebels have done more 
in one night than my whole army 

would have done in months." <:iJ^ / */ c^^ Q__- 
Sergeant Thomas Hayden was at ^'^^^<^A> c/laLYJi;;^__^ 
Roxbury when the fortifications / / 

were thrown up, and, being an 

architect and builder, is said to have constructed some of them. 
There were also present Hezekiah Hayden, Lemuel Welch, Nathaniel 

and after Sometime appeared Inclined to undertake it, whereupon Some of his Relations to 
Dissuade him from it Laid before him the Dangers of his own Life and the Great Loss his 
family would Sustain if he should miscarry. He answered 

" ' I cau Leave my Family with the Divine Providence, and as to my own Life Since it is 
not Left with man to Detemiine the time or place of his Death I think it not best to be 
anxious about it. The Great thing is to Live and Dy in our Duty. I think the War is just 
and my Call is Clear. Somebody must venture and why not I, as well as another.' So he 
took out his commission and Proceeded to fill up his Compiny, and there appeared such a 
Readiness to serve under him that he said he thought he could have made up his Compiney in 
[his] own Town. 

"He was att the Takeing of Boto Chico, from which fort two Days after he wrote a 
chearful Letter to his Wife Expressing his Great Hopes of Takeing the Town of Carthagena 
and thereby finishing the Expedition and opening a way for his Return. 

" Butt soon after this he was Taken Sick and Languished untill the fifth of May. When 
he had almost Completed the thirty fifth year of his age, he not far from Jamaica Departed 
this Life and wee shall see his face no more untill the Sea gives up the Dead that are in it. 

"He hath Left his antient mother to Lament the Death of this lier only Son. His own 
Widdow with seven small Children, one att her Breast, a Family to mourne under this heavy 
Bereavement and Combat with the Difficulties of an unquiet World." i 
1 Stiles's History of Windsor, p. 331. 



X^^;^^^ 



WINDSOR. 513 

Lambcrton. an<i Increase Mather. When mustered on the 21st of 
April, 1775, tliero were twenty-three Windsor men under Captain 
Xatlianicl Hayden's command wlio began tlieir marcli to Boston ; and 
afterward there were many Windsor men among the ten thousand 
soldiers of Connecticut who were called to service in New York in 
August, 1770. 

"Hozekiah Ilaydcn enlisted hito the army about the 1st of January, 1776, 
and sewed as a private soldier. Ho was taken prisoner on the 27th of August, 
1776, at the battle of Long Island, and died of starvation on board the prison- 
ship, after having disposed of everything in his possession, even to liis sleeve- 
buttons, to purchase of his keeper footl enuugh to sustain life. Ho was a native 
of Windsor, and much respecteil and esteemed by his neighbors. . . . 

" Nathaniel Lamberton died on board the prison-ship November 9. William 
Parsons died November 9, in captivity, at New York. Elihu Denslow died Sep- 
tember 9, in camp, at New York. Captain Ebeuezer Fitch Bis.sell, St., was 
one of those who endured the horrible cruelties of the imjnisonraent in the Jer- 
sey prison-.ship. He was accustomed to relate with much feeling the sidferings 
which he witnessed and experienced at that time. He sent home to his family 
for money. Silver was e.xtremely scarce, and by dint of hard scraping, borrow- 
ing, and pledging, they succeeded in sending him some. But it never reached 
him, having probably foun<l its way to the pocket of some greedy British official. 
His wife (whoso maiden name was Esthoi- llayden) was vigilant in her endeavors 
to send articles for his comfurt and relief, and once succeeded in visiting him in 
his captivity.* 

" Samuel Wing and his son Moses were j)resent at the retreat from New 
York, as was also Jabez Haskell, who was then acting as nurse to the sick sol- 
diers. Having through some neglect received no orders to retreat, they were left 
behind, and hnally escaped in the very face of the advancing British. . . . Daniel 
Gillet, Jerijah Barbei-, Oradiah Fuller, Elisha Moore, Watson Loomis, were 
drafted, and served in New Y''ork and Westchester in August and September.'" 

Joseph Marsh died August 15, at Meriden, coming from camp at 
New York. " The great nund)er of the drafts had seriously interfered 
with the agricultural interests of the town, and the crops were scanty 
and insuflicient for the winter's supply. Nearly all the able-bodied 
men of Windsor were absent in the army, and labor was so scarce tliat 
the harvests of 1776 were literally gathered by the women and chil- 
dren." The leaden weights of every clock in town wore melted down 
and run into bullets. 

In the year 1777, when enlistments for three years or during the 
war were asked for, liounties were paid by the town and voluntary 
subscriptions made for tiiosc who would enlist, and their families were 
supplied with necessaries in their absence by a committee a]ipointed 
for that purjjose. Though heavily burdened with taxation, both old 
and young entered into the spirit of the time. When in April the re- 
ported attack of the British on Danlniry reached Windsoi, many were 
ready to resi)ond to the call. Mv. Daniel Phelps, a man of more than 
threescore years and ten (grandfather of the late Deacon Roger Phelps), 
and the late Deacon Daniel Gillet, a few years his junior, started for 
the scene of action.^ 

' Tli« swonl of tliis gallant oflic«r wa.s owiieJ by the late Mrs. Fanny L. BisscU. 
» StiU's's History oAvind.sor, pp. 394-396. 

» "Eaili was mounted, anil oaiiying a musket, hastened forward only to meet the return- 
ing volunteers, who told of the burning of Danbury and the retreat of the British. The old 

VOL. II. — 31 



514 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



^^^^C/ J^<^^ Ui*<2^ f%/!>-^- 




In October a detachment of eleven men of Ensign David Barber's 
company, of Windsor, in Lieutenant-Colonel Willey's regiment, was 

ordered to 
Peekskill. 
Their names 
were Ensign 
David Bar- 
ber, Sergeant Martin Pinncy, Sergeant Alexander Griswold, Cor- 
poral Zephaniah Webster, Drummer Joseph Holconib, Timothy Cook, 
Gideon Case, Abel Griswold, Elisha Marshall, Oliver Phelps, and 
Benjamin Moore. 

Roger Enos, of Windsor, was colonel of one of the regiments raised 
in 1777-1778, 
and Avas sta- 
tioned in the 
southwest part 
of the State ; and 
in the year fol- 
lowing, Elijah 
Hill, Judah Fin- 
ney, and Joseph Holcomb, of Captain Barber's company, were in 
garrison at West Point. 

During the massacre at Wyoming, Mrs. Azuba (Griswold) Perkins, 
a daughter of Windsor, barely escaped with her two children from the 
savages who had murdered her husband. She afterward lived and 

died in Poquonnock. Dr. Elisha 
N. Sill was also one of the sur- 
vivors of this massacre. ^ With- 
in the recollection of those now 
living, in nearly half the liouses 
north of the Farmington there lived some old man who had been a 
soldier in the Revolutionary War, and the pension-rolls contained more 
than fifty Windsor pensioners. A carefully compiled list of the soldiers 
in the Revolutionary army A\ho were natives of or enlisted from the 
town of Windsor was made by Dr. Stiles from State archives, ofhcial 
returns, and private letters. The list contains three hundred and 
thirty-foul- names. One of these, Mr. Daniel Bissell, Jr., accepted the 
perilous duty to which ho was 

appointedby General Washing- rC^/ OCS^A? V^x^ ^"7^^^ 
ton, as spy within the British ^ ^O'^yv o/'^ f/jtm U •- ' 
lines. In furtherance of this j7 // 

purpose he allowed himself to ^ y 

be entered and published in the official returns as a deserter from the 
American army. He had served with credit at White Plains, at 
Trenton, and at Monmouth, being slightly wounded at the latter place. 
The duty for which he was selected in the summer of 1781 was to 

man sighed tliat he could not get ' one shot at the Ked Coats.' But turning back he reached 
a ferry where numbers of impatient riders were waiting their turn, who with one consent 
declared that their rule should not apply to the old man, and the old man's plea took his 
companion with him. Late that night they reached the house of a friend, where the weary 
old man, in utter exhaustion, laid him down and died, and the younger volunteer returned 
to his home .alone." — Stiles'.'s History of Windsor, p. 398. 
1 Stiles's History of Windsor, pp. 380-400. 



MZ.j^J^ 



WINDSOR. 515 

furnisli General Wasliinj^'ton iufonnation as to the enemy's force and 
plans in New York City and on Long Island. We have tlie account of 
his enterprise in his own affidavit, sworn to on the 7tli of Januarv, 1818, 
at Richmond, Ontario Co., New Yoric,i and copies of original documents 
in tiie War Department at Wasliington, attested by the secretary, 
Jolui C. Calhoun, Dec. 5, 1820. He received the Honorary JJadgc of 
merit, given only t(j the author of any singularlv meritorious actio"n, — 
" to wear on his lacings over the left Ijreast the figure of a heart in 
purple cloth or silk edged with narrow lace or binding," and a certificate, 
of which the following is a copy : — 

" I, George Washington, Uommander-ia-Cbief of the American Army, &c., 
&c., ifcc. 

" To all persons to whom these presents shall come sendeth Greeting : 

" Whereas, it hatii ever been au establislieil maxim in the American service 
that the lioad to Glory was open to all, that Honorary Ite wards and Distinctions' 
were the greatest Stimuli to virtuous actions, and whereas Sergeant Daniel liissell 
of the Second Connecticut Regiment, has performed some important service, 
within the immediate knowledge of the Commander-in-Chief, in wliich his fidel- 
ity, perseverance and good sense, were not oidy conspicuously manifested, but 
his general line of conduct throughout a long course of service, having been not 
only unspotted but highly deserving of commendation. 

" Now, therefore, Know Ye, that the aforesaid Sergeant Bissell, hath fully 
and truly deserved, and hath been properly invested with, the Honorary Badge 
of Military Merit, and is entitled to pass and repass all tiiiards and MiliUiry 
Posts, as freely and as amply as any Commissioned Officer whatever ; and is fur- 
ther Recommended to that Notice which a Brave and Faithful Soldier deserves 
from his Countrymen. 

" Given under my hand and seal, in tlio Highlands of New York, this Ninth 
day of jNIay, a.d. 1783. 

[l-s.] (Signed) George Washington. 

(Registered) Joxathan Trumbull, Secrelari/." 

Of those who belonged to the order of Cincinnati, organized at the 
close of the Revolution, and somewhat similar in its purpose to the 
Grand Army of the Republic, wcie the following i)elonging to this 
town: Major Abnor Prior, Lieutenant Martin Denslow, Sergeant Tim- 
othy Mather, Lieutenant Cornelius Russell, and Lieutenant Samuel 
Gibbs. 

In the War of 1812 Windsor was agitated sufficiently to organize a 
volunteer company, which was called into service at New London. It 
numbered about sixty-five men, under Captain Hlanchard. 

During tlie war for the preservation of the Union the sum appropri- 
ated and paid out by the town amounted to about twenty-five thousand 
dollars. The number of soldiers enlisted who claimed Windsor as 
their residence was one hundred and eighty-eight. Of these, ten died 
during the war, eight were discharged for disability, three died of 
wounds, seven were wounded and survived, two were killed in battle, 
and one was reported missing in action ; four deserted after being mus- 
tered in, and thirteen deserted during the recruiting service. Twenty- 
five L^nion soldiers now lie buried in the old cemetery, and ten in the 
cemetery at Poquonnock. Many who enlisted from this town were iu 

1 Preserved by Dr. D. liissell, his son. See Stiles's History of Windsor, \>p. 40S-I15. 



516 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

the Twenty-second Regiment, which was stationed at Minor's Hill, near 
Washington, and were not engaged in any of the battles of the war. 
Prominent among the monuments in the cemetery is that of General 
William S. Piorson, whose patriotism, zeal, and enthusiastic devotion to 
the Union will be long and lovingly remembered by Windsor's sons. 

Mr. John Brancker was the lirst schoolmaster of Windsor who is 
named in the records. In 1656-1657, the town voted that five pounds 
should be paid him " towards his maintenance of a school." Four 
years later Mr. Cornish was voted ^4 10s. for discharging the same 
duty. The first mention of a school-house is in 1666-1667, so that pre- 
viously a school must have been tauglit at some private house. In 1672 
the town must have contained a hundred families ; for in April of that 
year Windsor was fined five pounds for not maintaining a grammar 
school, and the fine was paid over to the Hartford grammar school. 
In 1674 Mr. Cornish was to receive =£36 per year, and the children were 
required to pay five shillings per quarter. When John Fitch went to 
fight the Indians at the time of King Philip's War, in 1673, he made 
his will, giving all his property, after his debts were paid, " for the pro- 
moting of a school here in Windsor." His property was inventoried 
at about forty pounds, and his debts little more than a quarter of that 
sum. In 1679 Captain Clarke kept school for a year, six months on 
each side of the rivulet, receiving =£40 for this service combined with 
attending to other town business. Ten years later there were two 
school-teachers, Mr. Cornish and Mr. John Loomis, the former receiving 
thirty shillings and the latter fifty shillings. 

In 1698 school was maintained three months on the east side of the 
Connecticut and nine months on the west side, this latter period being 
divided equally to the north and south side of the Farmington. Lieu- 
tenant Hayden and Lieutenant Matthew Allyn were the committee who 
" agreed with Mr. Samuel Wolcott to keep a reading, and writing, and 
cyphering, and grammar school for one full year, to take none but such 
as are entered in spelling, for thirty-five pounds in country pay, or two- 
thirds of so much in money." 

April 14, 1707, liberty was granted to the inhabitants on the north 
side of the Rivulet to set up a school-house on the meeting-house green 
upon their own charges, and tlie same liberty was granted to the inhab- 
itants on the south side. The first schoolmistress was Miss Sarah 
Stiles in the year 1717. In 1723 Windsor was divided into two school 
districts, one emljracing the north and the other the south side of the 
Rivulet, in 1784 into three districts, and in 1787 into four districts. 

The old academy building, built mostly by subscription in 1798, 
stood on the green at the north end of Broad Street. It was here that 
some who have become ])rominent men in the country received their 
early education. Janitors in those days were not known. The schol- 
ars " took turn" in building the fire and sweeping the school-room. In 
1802 it was " voted, that the committee be empowered to exclude any 
scholar that shall not carry his share of wood for use of the said 
school." 

The present academy building, or Union school-house, was built in 
1853. At that time Mr. Henry Halsey (committee) solicited subscrip- 
tions from those early associated with this school, and the following 





^. <3/ 



r 



WINDSOR. 517 

names of those who responded will show the prominent positions of its 
graduates : The Hon. E. D. MortraiijOf New York ; General F. E. Mather, 
of New York ; II. B. Loomis, Ksip, of New York ; the lion. James 
Hooker, of Poughkeepsie, New York ; the sons of the late Levi Iluvdcn, 
of Charleston, S. C, and New York ; the Hon. James C. Loomis, of 
Brid,ae])ort, Conn.; General William S. Pierson, then of Sandusky, 
Ohio ; R. G. & F. A. Drake, of Harlford, and Columlna, S. C. 

The present Union .school fund amounts to ■'r'li.OHi), derived in part 
from a legacy of John Fitch in It'.T."), and from Abraham Pheljis in 
1728, but chielly from the gift of Captain IJcnoni Bissdl in ITHl, whose 
monument bears the inscription: ''Erected by the First ."^ocietv of 
Windsor in Grateful Keniembranee of his generous Gift for the support 
of their School." 

There are at this time one high school and ten school districts in 
the town, and fourteen school departments. There arc 005 children 
enumerated between the ages of four and si.xteen years. The annual 
appiopi-iation from town treasury in 1S84 was S!o,00b ; from school fund 
and State apjjropriations, *I,563.7o; from town deposit fund, §199.00; 
from Union school fund, 8124.80, — making a total of 80,888.45. The 
total receipts from all sources, inchnling district ta.\es, were 810,261.61, 
and the total cxi)enditures, 89,940.72. 

The Young Ladies' Institute is a private enterprise established in 
1867 by the Hon. IT. Sidney Ilayden. It consists of two liuildings, — 
a large house on Bi-oad Street for the boarding i)U))ils and teachers, and 
al.so a building on Maide Avenue containing the school-room ]iro])cr and 
the Seminary Hall. It has been conducted from its first establishment 
by Miss Julia S. Williams as principal, and Miss Elizabeth Francis as 
assistant, with an eflicient corps of teachers. The average munber of 
scholars is about si.xty. 

In 1874 James C. Loomis, Ilezekiah B. Loomis, Osbert B. Loomis, 
H. Sidney Hayden and his wife, and John Mason Loomis were consti- 
tuted a corporate body by the name of the Loomis Institute. This 
Institute is designed for the gratuitous education iif pci'sons of the age 
of twelve years and upwards, and is to be located on the original home- 
stead of Joseph Loomis on the Island, near the place of the original 
settlement of Windsor. 

This homestead is situated on elevated ground on the west bank of 
the Connecticut River, and commands an uncommonly fine view of the 
river and valley. Since the death of Joseph Loomis this site has always 
been in the possession of some one of his lineal descendants to the 
present time. It is the design of the corporators to do what they can 
to endow this institution ; and in this they look for the co-operation of 
all tiie Loomis family, that the institution may become a lasting monu- 
ment to the memory of Josepii Loomis. 

The sul)ject of a ferry across the Connecticut was agitated in 1641 ; 
but the first positive action appears in the contract made by the General 
Court in January, 1G48-0, when "John Bissell undertakes to kee]> and 
carefully to attend the Ferry ' over the (Jreat River at Windsor for the 
full term of seven years," after which the lease was renewed by himself 

> Colonial Records, vol. i. p. 174 ; Stiles, p. 462. 



518 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

and his successors of the Bissell family down to 1677. The ferry soon 
after that reverted to the town. The Rivulet ferry so frequently men- 
tioned in the town records was continued until 1749, when the first 
bridge (made free) was built across the Tunxis. In 1762, when it be- 
came necessary to rebuild the Rivulet bridge, it was done by a lottery 
of £250 authorized by the Assembly. This bridge was half destroyed 
by a freshet in 1767, and entirely carried away in 1782. A bridge 
and causeway were erected in 1794, and another bridge in 1833, which 
was destroyed by the freshet of 1854. Then the present bridge was 
erected. 

Near by, on tlie Palisado Green, was the centre of trade in Windsor's 
early days, and the merchants of that time carried on extensive trade 
with English ports and the AVest Indies. Before the bridge was built 
across the Connecticut at Hartford, the Farmington Rivulet here was 
alive with shipping ; half a dozen coasting-vessels at a time and an 
occasional English or West India ship wore seen. The principal mer- 
chants were Henry and Josiah Wolcott, Michael Humphrey, Captain 
Newberry, George Griswold, Matthew Grant, and in later days tiie 
widely known firm of Hooker & Chaffee, and that of Captain Natiianiel 
Howard and Major William Howard. In tlie north part of the town, 
near Hayden Station, was Matson's store, doing a large business. Half 
a mile below was Master John Hayden's ship-yard, and there was 
another ship-yard at the Rivulet ferry. 

The village inn was a noted institution of the olden time, when the 
old stage-coach rolled along between Hartford and Boston. There was 
the old Loomis Tavern, on the west side of Broad Street, and the 
Hayden Tavern, kept by Sergeant Samuel Hayden at the house 
now occupied by the family of the late Levi Hayden. At the latter 
place still stands an ancient oak, under the shade of wiiose widespread- 
ing branches Chief Justice Ellsworth is said to have wliiled away his 
leisure hours with the men of his time. Near the chief justice's house 
itself there stood a few years ago an old cedar-tree, said to have been 
one of the original forest trees, noted as the huntsmen's rallying-place. 
This tree was blown down in November, 1877, and many much-prized 
mementos have been manufactui-ed from its fragrant wood. 

Pickett's Tavern, also near Hayden station, and the oak known as 
the Old Smoking-Tree, cut down by some vandal hand, are associated 
witii the cheer of ancient time. The stately elms on Broad Street 
Green were set out in 1755.^ 

The Old ilill, owned by the late Colonel James Loomis, on the site 
where Mr. Charles F. Lewis's mill now stands, was one of the oldest 
institutions, and is said to have been the first grist-mill in Connecticut 
People resorted to it from all tlie towns about, even as far as from 
Middletown. It is called sometimes the Old Warham Mill, as Mr. 
Warham was undoubtedly its first owner. 

The population of Windsor, according to the last census, is 3,056. 
In the whole town, embracing Poquonnock and Rainbow, there are two 

1 These were set out by one who afterward fell from his respectable position in society, and 
was twice publicly whipped at two of his own trees, which lie afterward cut down. When in- 
toxicated he often threatened to destroy the rest, but was always "bought off b)' old Squire 
Allyn with a cord of wood and some cider." The date of erection, inscribed on a small iron 
plate, is placed on one of the trees opposite the residence of the Hon. H. Sidney Hayden. 



WINDSOR. 521 

town-halls, two grist-mills an<l saw-mills, three blacksmith's shops, ten 
stores, seven ohurehcs, twelve scIidoI buililinirs, and two hotels. In 
the Centre arc the Best Mannfacturing Company, making cigars and 
tobacco, and the Spencer Arms Company. The latter, in a building 
two hundred feet long i)y fifty feet wide, makes the noted S|)encer gun, 
Windsor continues to be mostly an agricultural community, though there 
are several residents who do business in Hartford. Within a compara- 
tively recent |)eriod streets and avenues have been laid out, and about 
thirty new buildings erected. The Hon. Judge 11. Sidney Ilayden has 
succeedeil in the enterprise of supplying the village with" the "purest of 
water from the Crystal Springs, which arc on a high elevation west of 
the centre, and have a running capacity of fifteen thousand gallons a 
day. They have never failed during the severest drought. He has 
also laid separate pipes from the large factory pond, which is abundant 
for manufacturing purposes, and furnishes an unfailing supply in case 
of conflagration. This individual enterprise resulting successfully iu 
so great a public benefit, and jiayiug but a low rate of interest to the pro- 
jector, is duly appreciated. Ice-houses have been erected near the pond, 
and individuals who formerly stored their own ice now prefer the con- 
venient supply furni.shed by the ice-men. Windsor is but twelve min- 
utes' ride by railroad from Ilartford, and there are fourteen or sixteen 
trains stopping here each day. 

The portion of the town of Windsor now known as Poqnonnock was 
probably settled about the year 1049, as at that date we (ind ' that 
Thomas flolcomb, John Bartlett, Edward, Francis, and Oeorge Gris- 
wold- had all removed to that locality, and the Court, "taking into con- 
sideration the many dangers that their families are in and exposed 
unto by reason of their remote living from neighbors, and nearness to 
the Indians, in case they should all leave their families together with- 
out any guard," exempted " one soldier of the forementioned families 
from training npon every training-day, each family aforesaid to share 
herein according to the number of soldiers that arc in them, provided 
that man which tarries at home stands about the aforesaid houses upon 
his sentinel posture." 

The Second Society of Windsor, usually called Poquonnock,^ is an 
important manufacturing village situated on the Farmington River, 
which in early times was navigaidc up to this ])oint. The graceful bend 
of this river has been named Rainbow, and at that phrcc the Rain- 
bow Mills are situated. Here we touch an incident in the life of the 

1 Stiles, p. 52. 

* " On tlie list of the names of the settlers of Windsor appc.iv those of Editnrd Griswold, 
Humphrey Pinney, nnil Thonia-s Ilolcomb, who probably were among those who accompanied 
Mr. Warliaui from Exeter to Nant.isket in 1630. Tliey were the ancestors of the CJriswohl, 
Pinney, and Holcomb families who afterwards removed from Windsor to Simsbnry, and whasc 
desoendants are still living in that and the adjacent tottiis. The EdimnI Oriswold whose 
name appears on the town records of Windsor in 1640 may have been a sou of IJishop Oris- 
wold's ancestor froin Englaml, Matthew Griswold ; and if so, it becomes even iiroliable that 
this ancestor was one of the company who cnmc over from E-xetcr with Mr. Warham in 
1630." — Dr. Stoxk's Lifr nf Bishop Grisu-old, p. 18. 

' " The Indian name Poquonnock, variously siicUed, denotes ' cleared land,' that is, a tract 
from which the trees or bushes had been cleared, to fit it for cultivation. See J. H. Trum- 
buUs ' Indian N'ames in Connecticut ' ( 1 881 ), p. 54. In 1 882 Mr. C. B. Toiirtelle, postmaster 
of Poipionnock, made a list of /"or/i/ dilfcrcnt ways of si^lling the name on letters received at 
his office in the past twelve months." — JIarlford Daily Tima, Feb. 20, 1832. 



522 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

eminent Bishop Griswold,i who suffered pecuniary embarrassments 
growing out of tlio operations of his brother Roger, who about the year 
1803 conceived the scheme of buihling at the bend of the Farmington 
River what he termed the Rainbow Mills. This scheme, which seems 
to have been a family enterprise, was advised against by the Bishop, but 
at last his consent was obtained. Roger was a man of much mechani- 
cal ingenuity, and was sanguine as to the result. " The dam was con- 
structed ; the mills were built, and operations were commenced. But a 
great freshet on the river occurred soon after, which did much damage 
to the works, swept away the embankment, carried off a large quantity 
of kiln-dried grain, and thus put Mr. Griswold to serious loss." ^ This 
water-power has since been improved, to the advantage of manufac- 
turers. Here are the two paper-mills of Messrs. Hodge & Co. 

Here is the property which has for years been called the Congress 
Mills. The main buildings are two stories high and forty-five feet by 
two hundred feet upon the ground. These were first erected in 1838, 
and rebuilt in 1866. The business firm name is the Springfield 
Paper Company, of which William L. Bidwell is treasurer. The capi- 
tal stock is |i50,000. It manufactures white and colored printing- 
papers, and special goods of that description, having a working capacity 
of three thousand pounds per day. The weight of materials handled 
each year is about two thousand tons. 

Rainbow has one church of the Baptist denomination, a neat Gothic 
structure built of wood, with slate roof. 

A fine town-hall has recently been constructed at Poquonnock at a 
cost of about ten thousand dollars. 

The mills of the Hartford Paper Company are at Rainbow and 
Poquonnock. The capital stock is $150,000. The hands employed 
number forty-eight men and thirty-five women ; total, eighty-three. 
They manufacture paper of various kinds. The capacity of the mills 
is nine thousand pounds of these papers per day ; and if confined to 
book-papers, it would be eleven thousand pounds per day. The Rain- 
bow mill was erected about thirty years ago, and the Poquonnock mill 
in 1870-1871. The property has cost the company $180,000. 

In 1873 Austin Dunham & Sons, of Hartford, started the business of 
manufacturing worsted yani in the old stone mill called the Tunxis Mill, 
at Poquonnock. It is a building seventj'-five feet by forty feet, with four 
stories. In the summer of 1875 they found it necessary to erect a brick 
building one hundred and fifty feet by thirty-five feet, and four stories 
high. This sufficed until the year 1880, when their business had in- 
creased to such an extent that they found it necessary to take in the 
Poquonnock mill. The latter had been used up to this time as a 
woollen mill, and was erected in 1865, — the main mill one hundred 
feet long by forty-one wide, and four stories, with an cU eighty-four feet 
long by thirty-two wide, and five stories. 

The Tunxis Worsted Company, which comprises these interests 
to-day, was formed July 1, 1880, with a capital of $162,000. Its object 
is to manufacture all kinds of worsted yarns, and prepare and sell 

1 "Edward and Matthew Griswold (brothers) came to Windsor with the Eov. Mr. Huit, 
1639. Edward removed to Hammonasset (Killingworth), but left sons at ronuonnock. 
Matthew settled at Lyme." — J ABEZ H. Havden. 

' Dr. Stone's Memoir of Bishop Griswold, pp. 95, 96. 



WINDSOR, 523 

combed wool, for worsted-spinners. Their production last year (1881) 
was : worsted yiirns made, 291,-J9o pounds; combed wools sold, 148,74'J 
pounds. The company employs about two hundred and sixty hands. 

The raising of fish has become a work of great public importance, 
and the works of the Fcnton Trout Breeding Company and State Fish 
Hatcheries arc located at Po(iuonnock. Henry J. Fcnton is superin- 
tendent. Mr. Fcnton made his lirst efforts at fish-breeding in 1872, 
and, though ballled by many dilliculties and losses, succeeded at last, 
by foiluwiiig the Seth (!reon principle of hatching, in placing his busi- 
ness upon a secure and lucrative basis. In June, 1879, by order of the 
fish commissioners of the State of Connecticut, there were hatched and 
distributed at this place various kinds of fish, and in the fall of that 
year salmon-eggs were received, which were hatched very successfully 
and distriljuted. At the request of Professor Thacher, of Yale College, 
Mr. Fenton tried the cxpciimcnt of hatching lamprey eels. For two 
years his labor was unsuccessful ; but in the spring of 1880, the third 
year, he succeeded in this hitherto doulitful experiment. The company 
in l88l hutched six hundred thousand salmon for the State, and fur- 
nished two hundred and seventy-seven thousand brook-trout fry. It 
has now tUree iiatching-houscs, with a capacity of two million eggs. 



179. He was one of the most noted 

en of his time. At tlie aorc of twenty- /^ ^J V 4j 

,e he estaldished himself on the east c^ J-^^^ ^*^^^ '^ ^ ^^ 
ie of the Connecticut River, and ^^ 



Roger Wolcott, Governor of Connecticut, was born in Windsor, Jan. 4, 
1679. He was one of the most noted 
men 
one 
side 

biographical notices of the Wolcott family will be found under the 
head of East Windsor. 

Henry Wolcott, the emigrant, came to Windsor with Mr. Warham's 
company in 1G35, and his name stands first on the li.st of the early 
inh:ii)itants. He was elected a magistrate or assistant in 1643, and 
thenceforward during life was annually re-elected to that oilicc. In 
lt>40 he made a visit to England. His life was one of great usefulness 
and honor. He died May 30, Itloo. In the cemetery at Windsor his 
monument may still be seen. It is of brown stone, arched, and was 
made by his son-in-law, Matthew Griswold. The inscriptions concerning 
himself and wife are on opposite sides, as follows : — 

" Here vnder lyeth the body of Henry Wolcot sometiraes a Maiestrate of this 

Ivrlsdiction who dyed y° 30"" day of May 

•' •' • . (salvtislC55. 

A""°|a>tatis77." 

" Here vnder lyeth the body of Elizabeth Wolcot wlio dyed y' 7"- day of 

^""° \ fctatis 73." 

Roger Ludlow was one of the principal men of Connecticut, and 
his name often occurs in our earlv history. He has been honorably 
styled the "Father of Connecticut Jurisprudence." He was a lawyer 
by profession, of a good family, who resided in Dorchester, England. 



524 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

He was a brother-in-law of Endicott,^ whom he is said to have rivalled 
in ardor of temperament. He was remarkable for his talent, and also 
for his ambition and impetuosity. At the last General Court of the 
company in England, Feb. 10, 1630, ho was chosen as assistant in the 
place of Samuel Sharp, who had the year before come to Salem. 
He was one of the founders of Dorchester, and was selected as most 
suitable to join that colony, that his counsel and judgment might 
aid in preserving order, and founding the social structure upon the 
surest basis. He embarked with Mr. Warham and his company at 
Plymouth on the 20th of March, 1630, and after his arrival in Amer- 
ica entered upon his duties as a member of the Court of Assistants. 
This office he held for four years following. One trait of his charac- 
ter becomes prominent in the following incident, which occurred at a 
meeting of the governor and assistants in Boston, May 1, 1G32 : — 

" After dinner, the governour told tliem tliiit he had heard, tiiat tlie people 
intended, at the next General Court, to desire that the assistants might be 
cliosen anew every year, and that the governour might he chosen hy the whole 
court, and not by the assistants only. Upon this, Mr. Ludlow grew into a pas- 
sion, and said, that then we should have no government, hut there would be an 
interim, wherein every man niiglit do Avhat he pleased, etc. This was answered 
and cleared in the judgment of the rest of the assistants, but he continued stiff 
in his opinion, and protested he would then return back into England." ^ 

The governor and assistants were chosen anew, however, at the 
next meeting of the General Court, and Mr. Ludlow was re-elected 
among the rest ; he was cliosen again the next year. In 1634 he was 
elected deputy-governor, and also made overseer of the fortifications on 
Castle Island, and one of the auditors to adjust the accounts of Gov- 
ernor Winthi'op's administration. By natural rotation he should have 
been chosen governor in 1635. But his complaints had injured him in 
jiopular estimation. He protested that the election of Governor Haynes 
was void, because the election was arranged and managed by the 
deputies, who had previously to the meeting agreed ui)on the candi- 
date. Tliis caucus arrangement he regarded as nullifying a free 
election. His views, iiowever, were not entertained, and he received 
the rebuke of being left out of the magistracy altogether. A few weeks 
after this event he joined the company through the wilderness to Wind- 
sor, and for nineteen years thereafter Connecticut had the benefit of 
his talent, activity, and usefulness. Massachusetts still continued to 
value his merits ; for, six months after his departure, he was named 
in the commission for Connecticut, and placed at the head of the mag- 
istracy constituted by that instrument. He was almost always present 
at the meetings of the commissioners, and took important part in the 
proceedings. Necessity compelled him to be at home when the expe- 
dition started against the Pequots ; yet afterward wc find him in the 
pursuit, when they were routed, through Menunketuck and Quinnipiac 
to Sasco, or the Pequot Swamp. He was elected magistrate when the 
government was reorganized in May, 1637, and re-elected in 1638. 
A principal framer of the constitution of 1639, lie was the fii'st who 
was elected deputy-governor under that instrument. He was also 

1 Savage's Winthrop, vol. i. p. 28, note 2. - Ibid., p. 74. 



WINDSOR. 525 

deputy-governor in 1G42 and in lt!48 : and durinjr the intervening 
years lie was annually chosen magistrate. In the years 1048-1051, 
and 10;)3, he was one of the CDunnissioners from Connecticut to 
the United Colonies. In April, 1040, he was desired by the (leneral 
Court "to take some paynes in di'awing forth a ijody of Lawes for 
the government of this Common willh, \- present them to the ne.\t 
(Jeneral Court."" 'I'his important work was not completed hefore 
lOoO, when, at the May Court, " tiie country orders" — since called 
"Mr. Ludlow's code" or " the code of ItJoO" — were " coniliid<'d and 
estalilished." ^ 

lie resided in Windsor ahout five years, and afterward removed to 
Fairfield. There he remained until the spring of 10")4, when ho re- 
moved with his family to Virginia, lie was led to take this step 
because the colony of New Haven having refused to furnish ti-oo]is for 
the defence of Stamford and Fuirliekl, these towns raised troops for 
their own defence, and ajipointed Roger Ludlow eonnnander-in-chief. 
Their conduct was regarded as reprehensible and seditious. Uobert 
Basset and John Chapnuin were charged with "fomenting insurrec- 
tions," and were treated as leaders of the enterprise. Ludlow regarded 
these accusations as aimed against him, for he was the principal man 
in that region. Rather than make concessions, he preferred to leave 
the colony whose displeasure he had iucuricd. The citizens of Fair- 
field had no seditious intent, and their arjning themselves was simjily 
an act of self-preservation; and the proud and .sensitive spirit of Lud- 
low could not endure the public censure. On the 20th of April, 1654, 
he embarked at New Haven, with his family and effects, for Virginia, 
where he may have passed the remainder of his days in obscurity, or 
fulfilled the intention, hastily expressed on a former occasion, of 
" returning back to England." 

John Mason, the renowned conqueror of the Pecpiots, major of the 
forces of the Connecticut colony, Avas the most celebrated military 
man of his time. He was horn in England in the year 1000. Ured to 
arms in the Netherlands under Sir Thonuis Fairfax, he had attracted 
the favorable notice of that general by his abilities and conrage during 
his service as a volunteer. He was of the original company who came 
over with Mr. Warham to Dorchester in 1030, and among the first who 
removed to Connecticut in 103.") and aided in founding the town of 
Windsor. After the Pequot War he removed to .Saybrook, at the 
re(iui'st of its settlers, for the defence of the colony, and thence he 
removed to Norwich in 1059. For more than thirty years lie was 
major of the colonial forces, and between 1000 and ItiTO he was 
deputv-governor of Connecticut. He was also a magistrate from 1642 
to 1008. His account of the I'ecpiot War, prepared at the request of 
the General Court of Connecticut, was published l)y Increase Mather in 
1077, and more accurately, with an introduction and notes, by the 
Rev. Thomas Frincc. P.oston, 1730. In person he was tall and large in 
form, "full of martial bravery and vigor," of a stern, energetic, but 
not headlong disjiosition, of a moral and religious character. "His 
life and conversation were of the Puritan stamp, without ostentation, 
and above reproach." He died in Norwich in 1(!72. 

1 Colonial Kcconls, vol. i. p. 509, note. 



526 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Oliver Ellsworth, LL.D., son of William and Mary Ellsworth, an 
eminent statesman and jurist, was born in Windsor, March 24, 1746-7. 
He graduated at the College of New Jersey in 17G6. He was admitted 
to the bar in 1771, and soon became one of the most eminent legal 
practitioners of the colony. In 1777 he was chosen a delegate to the 
Continental Congress, and'he was a member of the council of his native 
State from 1780"to 1784, when he was apjiointed a judge of the Su]>erior 




0Li\Ki; KLL.swuirru and wife. 

(After tlie Painting by R Earle, 1792.) 

Court. In 1787 he was elected to the convention which framed the Fed- 
eral Constitution, and was afterward a member of the State convention 
which ratified that Constitution. Chosen one of the first senators of 
the United States from Connecticut, he continued in the Senate from 
1789 to 1796, when he was nominated by Washington chief justice of 
the Supreme Court of the United States, as the successor of Jay. Hav- 
ing a peculiar style of condensed statement, logical and argumentative 
in his mode of illustration, and following a most lucid train of analyti- 
cal reasoning, he presided over that court with great distinction. His 
opinions, given in clear and felicitous language, were marked by sound 
legal and ethical principles. In 1799 he was appointed by President 
Adams envov extraordinary to Paris ; and with his associates, Davie and 




HON. OLIVKI: ELLSWOirni. 



GOV. WILLIAM W. ELLSWORTH. 



(FKOM A POllTRlIT l.N " THE UAOAZUSE OP AMERICA.V OISIOBT,' 
BV PEMIISSIOX. ) 




THE ELLSWORTH HOMESTEAD. 



WINDSOR. 529 

Murray, he successfully negotiated a treaty with France. HavinfC ac- 
complished this, liis health beiuu: seriously impaired, he visited Enu:- 
laiul, where he sought to avail himself of the Ijenelit of its mineral 
waters. In 1800, while in England, he resigned the ollice of chief jus- 
tice. After returning home to his native State, he was once more 
elected a member of the council. In 1807 he was chosen chief justice 
of the State, l)nt on account of his health was obliged to decline the 
office. He continued to 1)0 a mendjcr of the council, however, until the 
close of his life. He died in Windsor, Nov. 20, 1807, aged sixty-five 
years, " greatly regi'etti'd, as in his lii'c he had been admired f(jr his 
extraordinary endowments, his ace(jmplishments as an advocate, his 
integrity as a judge, his patriotism as a legislator and aml)assador, and 
his exemplariness as a Christian." 

John Milton Niles,i an editor, author, politician, and statesman of 
eminent ability and long and varied public service, was born on the 
20tli of August, 1787, in that i)art of Windsor called Po((uc)nnock. 
Though not enjoying the privilege of collegiate advantages, he pur- 
sued a course of systematic and laljorious study, so that h-w nun of 
his time were more conversant with history, better understood the 
science of government, or had more deeply investigated the political 
and civil institutions of our own and other coimtries. In 1817 he 
established the " Hartford Times," and for several years was the 
exclusive editor of that journal. In 1821 he Mas appointed an as- 
sociate judge of the county court, which office he held for eight years. 
In 1826 he represented Hartford in the (ieneral Assend^ly. Appointed 
postmaster at Hartford in 182!>, he resigned on receiving i'rom (iovernor 
Edwards the executive appointment of senator in Congress, to fill tlie 
vacancy occasioned by the death of Nathan Smith; and the appoint- 
ment being afterward confirmed by tiie legislature, he was United 
States senator from Connecticut until JIarch, 1839. He was the Demo- 
cratic candidate for governor in 18P.9, and again in 1840. In the latter 
year he was appointed i>ostmaster-gencral by Mr. Van Buren, and 
retired with that President in 1841. In 1842 he was re-elected to the 
Senate of the United States, and held the ofiice until 1849, when he 
relinquished official life. At the age of sixty-eight he jjrojected the 
establishment of a new daily paper and the organization of a distinct Re- 
publican party, and established the "Hartford Press" in February, 1856. 
He died on the 31st of the following Jlay, in the sixty-ninth year of his 
age. He spent the years 1851-1852 aliroad, in visiting the various coun- 
tries of Europe. He acquired by industry and economy a handsome 
estate, and besides numerous legacies to individuals, he bequeathed 
Si20,000 in trust to the city of Hartford as a charity fund, one half the 
income of which was to be devoted to the purchase of fuel for poor 
people, the other half to be added to the principal until it should 
amount to $40,000, and then the entire income to be devoted to the 
purcliase of fuel as aforesaid. The fund amounts to §40,000, and is 
held ill trust bv the citv of Hartford. 

William Wolcott Ellsworth, for many years judge of the Supreme 
Court of the State of Connecticut, was the third son of Oliver Ellsworth, 
second chief justice of the United States. He was born Nov. 10, 1791, 

I See the Hon. Gideon Welles'a Communication to Stiles's Histor>'> PP- "25-727. 
VOL. II. — 34. 



530 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

at Windsor, where he received his early education. In 1806 lie entered 
Yale College, and graduated in 1810. Having chosen the law as his 
profession, he began his legal studies at the celebrated law school at 
Litchfield, under the guidance of Judges Reeve and Gould, and contin- 
ued them in Hartford, in the office of his brother-in-law, the late Chief 
Justice Williams. He was admitted to the bar in 1813, and the same 
year he married Emily, eldest daughter of Noah Webster, the great 
lexicographer. Establishing himself in Hartford, he proceeded to mas- 
ter his profession with great painstaking. It was his custom to write 
on blank pages of interleaved copies of elementary works all the new 
decisions in the American and English courts, and thus he kept himself 
informed of the exact state of the law on every point that might arise. 
He had a large and widely extended practice. In 1827 he was sent to 
Congress, where he continued five years, and then resigned in order to 
pursue his profession. During his whole career in Congress he was on 
the judiciary committee, and took an active part in preparing measures 
to can-y into effect Jackson's proclamation against the nullification of 
South Carolina. He was one of the congressional committee to inves- 
tigate the affairs of the United States Bank at Philadelphia, — a famous 
investigation in its day. He was a firm advocate of a moderate protec- 
tive policy, and to him more than to any one else is due the just exten- 
sion of the law of the copyright. His ablest speeches in the House 
were upon the judiciary, the tariif, the pension laws, and the removal 
of the Cherokee Indians. Returning to his home in 1834, he resumed 
the practice of his profession. In 1838 he was elected governor of the 
State, and held this office four successive years. Twice during his 
governorship he was offered an election to the United States Senate, 
but refused to be a candidate. He continued at the bar until 1847, 
when the legislature elected him a judge of the Superior Court and 
Supreme Court of Errors. He remained on the bench until his office 
expired by limitation of law when he reached the age of seventy years. 
Returning to the well-earned rest of private life, his interest in public 
affairs was unaljated, and during the progress of the war the cause of 
the Union had no more earnest and determined supporter. An early 
professor of Christ, a member of the old Centre Church of Hartford, 
and from 1821 until his death a deacon, he took an active part in 
charitable, religious, and missionary enterprises. Rufus Clioate, in a 
speech, alluded to him as a man of " hereditary capacity, purity, learn- 
ing, and love of the law ; " and added : " If the land of the Shermans 
and Griswolds and Daggetts and Williamses, rich as she is in learning 
and virtue, has a sounder lawyer, a more u])right magistrate, or an 
honester man in her public service, I know not his name." He died 
at his residence in the city of Hartford, on tiie 15th of January, 1868, 
in the seventy-seventh year of his age.^ 

General William Seward Pierson was the eldest son of Dr. William 
Seward Pierson, and the fifth in direct descent from the Rev. Abraliam 
Pierson, the first President of Yale College, whose father (also the 
Rev. Abraham Pierson) came to New England in 1640, and was pastor 
of the church at Southampton, Long Island, and afterward at Newark, 
New Jersey. General Pierson was born March 28, 1815, in Durham, 
wliei'e his father was resident physician. The death of Dr. Chaffee, 

1 See Connecticut Keijorts, 1S67-1S68, vol. xxxiv.. Appendix. 





6^^-f^r^ 




WINDSOR. 531 

Windsor's old physician, occasioned the removal of Dr. Pierson in 1818 
to this town (then esteemed one of the best fields of medical practice 
in the State). (!eneral Pierson received his early education and train- 
ing for collcfire in the schools of the town and the academics of Ellington 
and Guilford, and entered Yale College with the class of 1836, gradu- 
ating with his 
class in regidar 
course. After 
toacliing a few 
months, he read 

law during 1837 and 1838 with Governor Ellsworth and at the Yale 
Law School, and in November of the latter year was admitted to 
the Hartford bar. In the following year he entered upon (he practice 
of law at the New York bar, in partnership with Frederick E. ^Mather, 
Esq. A complete break-down of health, after a short period of service, 
compelled his retirement fiom active professional labors, for which he 
seemed eminently fitted i)y possession of a clear head, good powers of 
application, and a remarkable gift of persuasive speech ; and he never 
resumed them. The revival of business and rapid development of the 
"Western and Southwestern States a few years later, brouglit him into 
connection with various railroad and other business enterprises in that 
region; and for convenience in attending to these interests he established 
his residence in the city of Sandusky, Ohio. He was chosen mayor of 
the city in April, 1861, and in that' capacity, as also by bis personal 
influence, contributed largely to the support of the Government in its 
struggle with rebellion. When the Government selected Johnson's 
Island, in Sandusky Bay, as a post for Confederate ollicers prisoners of 
war, a special corps, kilown as the Hoffman Battalion, was organized 
of citizens of Sandusky to guard the post, and (iencral Pierson was 
appointed its commander, with the rank of Major of Volunteers. He 
continued in command of the pcxst until January, 18G4. He was made 
lieutenant-colonel in 1803, and at the close of the war was breveted 
brigadier-general in recognition of his services. Shortly after liis 
resignation of his command he returned to the family homestead in 
Windsor, which had come into his possession on the death of his mother 
in the preceding year ; and the rest of his life was passed here in un- 
eventful but very active attention to a wide range of business, both 
personal and in "positions of trust as president, director, or adviser in 
various bankinu'. manufacturinir, insurance, and similar corporation.s. 
He died suddenly on tli.' isth of April. l.sT't. at Keene, New Hamp- 
shire, whither he' had been called by the death of a relative. 

General Pierson was identified with the history of Windsor, not 
more in his own person than as the representative of his father. Dr. 
Pierson, whose professional life here of more than forty years ranks him 
second to none for skill and success as a physician. And in these two 
lives Windsor adds to the record of names that adorn her history, 
another name fit to stand on the roll with the best of her sons born on 
the soil. 

Nathaniel Havden, son of Levi Hayden, was born in Windsor, at 
" Havden's," Nov". 28, 1805. He was of the seventh generation from 
William Havden the "first settler." He was the third child and 
oldest son of a familv of eleven children. His boyhood was spout on 



532 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



the farm. At the age of sixteen he entered a country store, and at 
nmeteen he entered the service of James Eyland & Co., of Charleston, 
South Carolina. Here his fidelity and ability secured him the confi- 
dence of his employei'S, and at Mr. Eyland's death he became the sole 
surviving partner, and continued the business until 1843, when he re- 
tired, leaving two of his brothers to succeed him. After remaining two 
or three years at the homestead he entered business again, this time in 
New York City. Then in 1858 he was made president of the Chatham 



'^^Si^JeE 




GEACE (episcopal) CUURCH, WITH PARSONAGE. 

Bank, and held the position fifteen years, when he retired to his native 
place, where he died, Feb 23, 1875. He was well read in the political 
history of his country, and actively opposed nullification when it was 
proposed in South Carolina, and prophesied ill from the compromise 
legislation of the time. As a lianker in New York during the war 
he urged the fullest response to the Government's call for funds. 

James Chaffee Loomis, the oldest son of James and Abigail Chaffee 
Loomis, was boi'u in Windsor, April 19, 1807, and died Sept. 16, 1877. 
He graduated at Yale College in 1828. He married Eliza C. Mitchell, 
of New Haven, in 1833. She died in March, 1840, and in 1844 
he married Mary B. Sherman, who now survives him. He resided 
in Bridgeport, where he was a lawyer of large practice, and president 
of the bar of Fairfield County. He was State senator in 1837, and at 
the time of his death was a member of the State Board of Education. 
He Avas an earnest and impressive debater, taking active part in the 
cause of good government and just administration of the law. Of three 




^^.^^3^^^^^^ 'd^.^zy^t^^^ 



£iifi fySBMfs A--' A«» yirt 



WINDSOR. 



533 



children, two died in childhood. His second son, James .German 
Loomis, died in October, 1807, in the twcntv-lirst year of his ajrc. He 
wa.s a memi)er of the Senior class at Yale" College, and was a young 
man of rare ])romise, beloved by all who knew him, and lamented by a 

larac circle of friends. 



^^. yt^Q^^^i^-^ 




CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH ON MAIN STREET. 
nuiLT IX 1794. 



534 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



CHUBCEES OF WTNBSOE. 

BY THE KEV. GOWEN C. WILSON, 

Pastor of the First Congregational Church. 

The First Congregational Church of Windsor celebrated its two 
hundred and fiftieth anniversary March 30, 1880. Its beginning 
therefore antedates the birth of the colony of Connecticut by nearly 
two years. It was organized in Plymouth, England, after the mem- 
bers of the colony had gatliered at that port, ready to embark upon the 
" Mary and John," which good ship sailed two weeks before the remain- 
der of Governor Winthrop's fleet. These " West-country people," as 
the Governor calls them, were mostly from the parts about Dorchester 
where the Rev. John White, the father, or one chief promoter, of the 
enterprise preached ; and doubtless it was through his influence, if not 
in part to avail themselves of his presence and aid, that they deter- 
mined, unlike the other companies, to embody themselves in chm-ch 
state before crossing the ocean rather than afterward. An account 
of the proceedings is given by Roger Clap in his memoirs. He was 
one of the company, but not of the church at its organization. He 
says : — 

" These godly people resolved to live together, and therefore, as they had 
made choice of those two reverend servants of God, Mr. John Warham and 
Mr. Jolni Maveric'k, to be their ministers, so they kept a solemn day t>f ft^sting 
in the new hospital in Plymouth, in England, spending it in preaching and 
praying, where tliat worthy man of God, Mr. .John White, of Dorchester in 
Dorsetshire, was present, and preached luito us in tlie fore part of the day, and 
in the after part of the day, as the people did solemnly make choice of and call 
these godly ministers to be their officers, so also the Rev. Mr. Warham and 
Mr. Maverick did accept thereof, and expressed the same." 

From this beginning the church has gone on until to-day without 
suspension or reorganization, wor.shipping together for two months on 
shipboard while crossing the Atlantic, then for five years or more in 
Dorchester, Mass., and now two hundred and forty-eight years in this 
place. New members joined them soon after their arrival in this 
country, one of whom, and perhaps the earliest, was Jlr. Clap, who was 
then twenty-one year.s of age. He says : " After God had brought me 
into this country he was pleased to give me room in the hearts of his 
servants, so that I was admitted into the church-fellowship at the first 
beginning in Dorchester in the year 1630." 

Though organized as a Puritan church, and not a Separatist, with a 
minister of the Established Church in England favoring and assisting 
the enterprise, yet, like the other churches in the Massachusetts Colony, 
they seem to have been practical Separatists in this country from the 
first. They retained no connection with the mother church. They 
had left England, says Milton, "to escape the fury of the bishops;" 



CHURCHES OF WINDSOR. 535 

and once here, they came to a better understanding with the church at 
Piymoutli, and fraternized with them, as Salem had dune bcfurc. Brad- 
I'nril, ill ills '• History of Massaclnisetts," says: "Rev. Mr. Warhaiii, of 
tiic I'hiiicli in Dorchester, expressed a desire to one of riyinuiith Cliureh 
in 1(J30, to be on friendly terms with that church and people ; and 
he declared himself satislicd with their ecclesiastical government and 
proceedings." 

The names of the original members of the church are not all known. 
Of the one hundred and forty wlio came together to Dorchester, the 
larsrer part were doubtless 

declared to be "through 

their fear of God and zeal for a godly worship." Thirty-seven years 

after its formation a list was made by ifatthew Tlrant, Recorder, of 

those " members who were so in Dor- 

- J /3 ^ - / _ Q (J Chester and came \\\\ [to Windsor] with 

2^oyy\a^ "J-otlx^K Mr. Warham and arc Ml of us." But 

^•"^ those then living, and members still of 

Mr. Warham's chuieli, were but a small part of the oiiiiiiial ciuiipany. 

Of the living, some had removed 

from town, and a considerable fac- ^^^7lVMV^£ cwo. *^yyxtO 
tion had withdrawn under the lead / ^ J^"- ^^*Y' ^ 
of the Rev. Mr. Woudbridge. The ^-^ — 

names given by Mr. Grant are Henry Wnloott, William I'lirlps, John 

Jbiiirc. AVilliam (Jaylurd, John 
Witeblield, Thonias Ford, 
Humphrey Pinne, Walter 
Filer, Matthew Grant. Thomas 
Dibble, Sr., Nathan (Jillet, 
George Phillips, Jonathan Gillet. Sr., Richard Yore, George Phelps; 
also William Plu-liis's 
wife, Richard Voie's ^ . ' 

wife, Jonathan Gillel's "^ ^JCcytUXh '^a'J/t/J O^ '^ 
wife. Lieutenant Walter <— ^ ^ ^^n^'^^'Jl—^'rnU^ 

Filer's wife, Thomas 
Dibble's wife, and George Phelps's wife, — twenty-one in all. 

It is added in a note "that David Wilton had gone from this church to 
Northampton to hcl|) to further a cliureh there, and died that year,— 
1677. At this date Captain John Mason, Roger Ludlow, William 
Havdeii, and niaiiv others i.rominent in the early history of the colony 
had removed from the town, and were connected with churches else- 
where. Mr. John Blanker was dead, as were many others who can be 
identified as members of the church by their having been freemen in 
Massachusetts. 

Of the Rev. Jidin Warham and the Rev. John Jlaverick, tlie pastor 
and teacher, little is known previous to their joining the company at 
Plvmoiith, Endaud, in 1(130. Both were ordained ministers in (he 
En<disli Church,— ^fr. Warham at Exeter, in Devon, and Mr. Maverick 
at a idace some fortv miles distant. Roger Claj). when a lail, livoil about 
three miles from Exeter, and went often into the city on the Lord s 
Day, where, as he savs, •' were many famous preachers of the word of 




536 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

God ; " but he adds, " I took such a liking to the Rev. Mr. John "Warham, 
that I did desire to live near him, so I removed into the city." Mr. 
Warham was doubtless descended from the same stock with William 
Warimm, D.D. and LL.D., Archbishop of Canterbury, who died in 
1532. The archbisliop had a brother John, whose grandson also bore 
that name. A branch of tiiis family settled in Dorset, where for several 
generations tlic name John Warham is met with until 1647, when 
one of that name sold an estate in that shire. There can be little 
doubt that ho belonged to this family ; but the names of his parents, 
the year and place of his birth, where he was educated, with all else 
connected with his life previous to coming to this country, are now 
unknown. He was a young man, however, at that time, while Mr. 
Maverick was somewhat advanced in years. 

Their ministry with the church began on shipboard, where, Mr. Clap 
says, " We had Preaching and Expounding of the word of God every 
day for ten weeks together by our ministers." At Dorchester a small 
thatched meeting-house was built, where they worsliipped for a few 
years previous to their final removal to Connecticut. This removal 
was in the early spring of 1636 ; for in April of that year a council 
was called in Dorchester to organize a new church, " the church which 
was planted in that place having removed with Mr Warham to 
Connecticut." Such is the testimony of a contemporary writer, whom 
the Rev. Increase Mather indorses as trustwortiiy and personally 
acquainted with the facts. Mr. Maverick had died in Boston the pre- 
vious winter ; and Mr. Warham, left alone, led his flock through the 
wilderness, preaching and praying no doubt by the way, as when at 
first tliey crossed the sea. When here, their first place of worship must 
have been some rude and temporary shelter such as they could supply 
until their families were housed and the Pequots were subdued. Their 
first permanent liouse for public worship was built in 1639. This same 
year, also, "Mr. Huit and divers others came up from the Bay to 
settle." Mr. Ephraim Huit, who had recently left England, was minis- 
ter in Wroxhall, Warwickshire, and only the year before had suffered 
persecution there for his nonconformity. After reaching Windsor he 
preached the next day, — as we learn from the shortliand notes of 
Mr. Henry Wolcott, — from 1 Cor. xii., latter part of 31st verse: 
" And yet show I unto you a more excellent way." That more ex- 
cellent way was doubtless the one which he had found in the broad 
liberty of this land, beyond the reach of the Bishop of Worcester. 
He was ordained teacher of the church and colleague of Mr. Warham, 
Dec. 10, 1639. 

The new meeting-house, which was built that year, was located on 
the green not far from the centre of the present triangle on tiie north 
of the Farmington River. It faced the east upon the main road, which 
passed down to the ferry near where the road now leads to the mead- 
ows. In this house pastor and teacher labored together for five years, 
until Mr. Huit was removed by death. 

He seems to have won a high place in the affections of his people. 
His epitaph, which may still be read in the old cemetery behind tlie 
church, witnesses strongly to his worth. Tlie inscription, " Heere Lyoth 
Ephraim Hvit, sometimes Teacher to y" Cliurch of Windsor, who "died 
Sept. 4, 1644," is followed by this quaint specimen of heroic verse : — 



CHURCHES OF WINDSOR 637 

"AVho when hec lived wee drew ovr vitair breath 
Who wlieii hec dyed his dying was ovr death 
WIio was ye Stay of State', ye Churches Staff 
Alas the times forbids an Epitaph." 

Whothcr this last sentence is added merely fnr the rhvnie, or has some 

reference to the times throiifjli which they were passinfr, just after 

the buttle of Marston Moor, — when the star of Croni\vell was in the 
ascendant, or whether it was only meant to say that time was lacking 
for a complete epitaph, can only be frncsscd at present. 

After Mr. Unit's deatli, Mr. Warham lai)orc(l on alone until 1668. 
There is no coniidete record of the olliivrs of the clnircli at (his time, 
the earlier chnrch-books being lost. Mr. AVilliuni Ilockwcil and William' 
Gaylord were deacons 
very earlv, if not from /) 

the first, and Mr. .John ^£^t^ />l>C^y <?.>rA a oM-^>l^^ 
Moore from Jan. 11, i ' i 

1652; and Mr. John ^^— ^ ^ 

Witehfield, Mr. John Branker, the " schoolmaster," and Jfr. William 
Ilosford were ruling- elders. These arc mentioned liy Mr. Henry 
Wolcott, in his shorthand manuscript, as delivering sometimes the 
. " weekly lecture." But as time 

/ a/' /?-^/y ^^®"* ""' *''■• Warham, becoming 

/ y Xa H^ (/(CXt4 tiC^ "ancient," needed a colleague; 
^— / and Mr. Xathaniel Chauncey, the 

son of tiie Rev. Charles Chauncey, 
then President of Harvard College, was recommended to the chin-ch by 
no less men than the Rev. Jolni Wilson, of Boston, and the Rev. Ricliard 
Jfather, of Dorchester, as a man of " learning, studious diligence, hope- 
ful ]>i('ty and grace, and peaceable demeanor." But his election de- 
pended on the votes of the town, and for some reason strong opposition 
was made to his settlement. An appeal was made at lengtii to the 
General Court, wliich liody then had a sort of episcopal jurisdiction over 
the churches, and it was ordered, Oct. 10, 1667: — 

" That the Town of Windsor meet ... .it the meeting-house by sun an 
hour high in the morniug, and all the freemen and householders within the 
limits of said Town aud Massaco [now Simsbury] . . . bring in their vutes to 
Mr. Henry Wolcntt. . . . .\ud Mr. Wolcott is desired to take the account of it 
and make the report thereof to the (Joueral Assembly. .\nd this Court doth 
hereby require and command all and every of the inhabitants of Windsor that 
duruig this meeting they forbear all discourse and agitation of any matter as 
m.iy provoke or disturb the spirits of each other, and at the issue of the work 
that they repair to their several occasions, as thej' will answer the contrary." 

This order will give some idea of the e.xcited state of feeling which 
existed. Mr. Wolcott returned eighty-six votes for Mr. Ciiauneey and 
fifty-two against him ; and in a subseipuMit order the cluireli received 
permission to .settle him. The disaffected 
[lartv jirotested, however, and petitioned tlie ctic '• "s /-^ 
Court for privilege to provide tlieni an abb' -^'^' lOaThfCi^ 
orthodox minister, and worsliip apart : which 

they were at length i)ermitted to do, and the Rev. Benjamin Woodbridge 
was .settled over them, preaching at tiie town-house for s<jme years. 



538 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

The Rev. S. Bradstreet, a conteniijorary writer, calls them the " Pres- 
byterian party ; " and the division indicates, no doubt, some diversity 
of ojjinion which prevailed at the time concerning church government. 
This secession of a part of the original body from the old church must 
have been exceedingly painful to Mr. Warliam ; and very soon after it, 
in April, 1670, he passed to his rest. He was laid beside the beloved 
teacher who had gone before him. but the exact spot is now unknown. 

Mr. Warham is mentioned by AVinthrop as one of the four selected 
by the Court in 1634 to prcacli the regular " weekly lecture : " and 
Cotton jlather, in his " Magnalia," says of him, " The whole colony of 
Connecticut considered him as a principal pillar and father of the 
colony." Mr. Mather thinks he was the first minister in New England 
who used notes in preaching, and says : " Some faulted him for it ; but 
when once they came to hear him they could not but admire the nota- 
ble energy of his ministry. He was a more vigorous preacher than 
most of them who have been applauded for never looking in a book in 
their lives," — by which he evidently means, looking in a sermon-book 
while preaching. Mr. Warham was one of the elders appointed by the 
General Court to attend the synod at Boston in June, 1657. This 
body recommended to the churches the Half-way Covenant system, 
and it was put in practice in this church at once. But seven years 
later Mr. Warham told his people that he had met with some dithcul- 
ties concerning that way, and could not conscientiously practise until 
they were removed. His successor " set it on " again, however, three 
years later, and it continued in use in this church until within the 
memory of some now living. Several members of the church at the 
present time were baptized in infancy under the operation of that 
covenant, their parents not being " in full communion." Another 
interesting fact is mentioned by Cotton Mather. '" Though our War- 
ham," he says, " were as pious a man as most that are out of heaven, 
yet Satan threw him into those deadly pangs of melancholy that made 
him despair of ever getting thither. . . . And the dreadful darkness 
which overwhelmed this Cliild of Light in his life did not wholly leave 
him until his death." In these seasons of depression he would some- 
times refuse to partake at the Lord's Supper when administering it to 
his fiock. 

After Mr. Warham's death the old church continued under the 
pastorate of Mr. Chauncey, and the church of the seceders under 
Mr. Woodbridge, though with little peace or harmony between the two. 
The Court ordered. May, 1679, that they " approve that both those 
Gent", Mr. Chauncey and Mr. Woodbridge, abide in their respective 
improvements as formerly, till such time as either there be a greater 
appearance of the settlement of their j)eace in the enjoyment of these, 
or some other orderly means may be used for the procuring of another 
minister, so as may be for the union and satisfaction of the whole." 
The troubles had assumed new shape at this time. The town-house, 
in which the Second Cluu'ch worshipped, needed rejiairs, and the town 
had refused l)y vote to make them. This house was at first a private 
dwelling, and the town had bought it, together with lands which were 
intended " for the Ijcnefit and entertainment of a minister." Failing 
to secure a vote for its repair, the new society were willing at last to 
return to their old place and worship with their brethren, as at first ; 



CHURCHES Ol' WINDSOR. 



53'J 



but now tlie old eluuch refused to receive any who had joined liicm. 
since tlie separation, except on a private examination of eacii. Re- 
peated orders of Court were disregarded, and tiie advice of a mutual 
council of fourteen failed to bring peace. This " l)k'cding state and 
condition," as it is described in an order of the Court, continued until 
both parties were weary of it. In the mean time Mr. Chauncey had left, 
uj)on a call from Hatfield . ifass. 

I Jut at last, on a unanimnus call of all parties, the Rev. Sam\iel Mather, 
of Dranford, was secured as a healer of the breach. Though called in 
1681, he was not settled until Mareh 3, 1(;85. 

In tlie interval between the call and settle- ^ ^ ^^ ^_ 
ment the town-house was renovated and lifted ^*'*^. Pi*Krmt€K, 
for his residence. Jlr. Woodbridge had left 

in 1681, without receiving satisfactory eomiiensatiou from the jiarty 
that he had served. On appeal to the Court, that body were so rejoiced 
at the prospect of peace in Windsor, that they icfused '• tn enter par- 
ticularly into the bowels of the case," but granted Mi-. Woodliridge a 
tract of the ]Hil)lic land, with an appeal to both jiarties to adjust their 
differences without further tmuble. Mr. Mather's coming resulted in 
a full and final agreement. He was practically the successor of Mr. 
AVarliam over the whole church, and he was a man worthy of the 
succession. His grandfather was Richard Mather, of Dorchester. His 

father, Timothy, was a brother of 
Increase Mather, who about this 
time became President of Harvard 
College. He and Cotton Mather, 
of Boston, were therefore cousins. 
He married a daughter of Hon. 
Robert Treat, afterward governor 
of the e(jlony. Thus honorably 
connected, and at the same time 
endowed with learning and with 
the spirit of Christ, his labors were 
exceedingly friiittul, and accepta- 
ble to all. The number i-f church- 
_ . „ members at his settlement was only 

\t,^>oittA;, S>*pti:Tiflvz}' lifty-six ; but it was more than 

doubled within the first two years. 
His ministry to this people con- 
tinued forty-two years, until March 
niong them, at the :ige of seventy-seven years, 
ttlenient a new meeting-house was built on 






18, 172S. when lie died 
Al)out tin- time of h 
the old site, which stood f<u- seventy-tour years, and then it was imlled 
down. A part of its timbers were nseil for building a barn, which is 
still standing, the property of Horace H. Ellsworth. The great oak 
timbers and huge morti.ses testify of its strength and solidity, however 
it may have lacked the elegance of modern church edifices. Here 
for a time the jieople gathered to WDrshii) from a wide region of country 
reaching from Hartford to the .Massachusetts line, and from Kllingtim 
to Simsburv, — a traet now supi)lied with at least twenty different 
houses of worshii) in seven difleient towns. Dm'ing Mr. Mather's 
ministry, as the more remot*; settlements increased in size, one after 



Xr^JV^a^f^^^^ 



540 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

another was permitted by the General Court to become an independent 
pavisli, and at length to organize a local church. This was done first 
on the " East of the Great River" (now South Windsor), and about the 
same time at Suffield ; then at Poquonnock in 1724, and at Bloomfield 
(tlien Wintonbury) in 1736, after Mr. Mather had gone to his rest. 

Mr. Jonathan Marsh was chosen col- 
league with Mr. Mather in 1710. An 
old memorandum of Timothy Loomis, 
made Aug. 29, 1710, reads, "Mr. 
Marsh's fint lecture." For eighteen years the two labored on together. 
Their salaries varied from year to year. Tliat of Mr. Mather ranged 
from £60 down to £30 in the years just before his death ; while 
Mr. Marsh received from .£70 to £125 during the same years. All 
these latter sums were, however, in " money;" while Mr. Mather's =£60 
was " in Currant Pay or two thirds so much in Money." 

The separate parish records begin Aug. 31, 1711. Previous to the 
division of the town into different parishes the society votes are all 
found upon the town records, since the whole town was one parish. 
Then, for a few years after, the east and west sides of the river voted 
separately in parish matters, both for the support of preaching and 
schools ; though separate books were not kept until the above date, — Au- 
gust, 1711. Later still, when new divisions of the parish were ordered, 
each was simply one section of the town territorially separated from the 
others. It was not until near the beginning of the present century 
that men were allowed to " sign off'," that they might sujjport preach- 
ing of some other than the established order. Numbers of these notes . 
which are recorded show how unwilling many were to be taxed for the 
support of a ministry in which they had no faith. One dated Novem- 
ber, 1808, reads : " This may certify that Martin Palmer, of Windsor, 
does not mean to uphold the Idea of Religion being supported by the 
civil sword ; therefore by this he certifies that the Baptist order are 
according to the apostolic plan, discarding the usurpation of the Pedo- 
Baptists or Presbyterians, and will not su])])ort them from tliis date." 

The ministry of Mr. Marsh was a fruitful one, and ended with his 
death, Sept. 8, 1747. After a four-years interim, during which several 
unsuccessful attempts were made to 
procure a pastor, the Rev. William 
Russell, of Middletown, was called, 
and settled July 24, 1754. Mean- 
while a trouble had arisen about the 
location of a new meeting-house, which they found it necessary to build 
in place of the one erected in 1684 ; and the division of sentiment was 
as great and as uncompromising as that of the previous century. The 
question of locating the house — whether it should be on the north or 
south side of the Rivulet — was now the principal one at issue. The 
Rivulet, now called Farmington River, was then crossed by a ferry ; 
while the interval, which was annually overflowed, separated the two 
extremes of the parish much more than at present. At last, when all 
hopes of agreement failed, it was " voated," April 7, 1749, that, — 

" Whereas y' first Society in Windsor are luider Many Difficulties & Conten- 
tions Kelating to their Meeting House, y° Place of Public Worship, settling a 




CHURCHES? OF WINDSOR. 



541 



Minister & other Difficulties Subsisting amongst them, whereby y* Peace & 

vi ni£ U .7'^. 'k 7'^' '"'^^'' ">te'-"'Pted, Therefore it is now Voated 
y our Difficulties be Laid before y' General Assembly in May next, praying to 







^ 






^' ^ 















1 




^aW<^^»7^ 




542 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

them y' y° Wold Take our Circumstances under y' Wise Consideration & 
Send us a Wise & Indifferent Com" to hear us under our Grievances & Report 
our Circumstances to s* Assembly, & We [be] Directed and Obliged to some 
Eules of Order for y^ Helth & Peace of y' Society, — or to Do for us as they shall 
in their Wisdom Judge Best." 

This appeal resulted in favor of the party on the south side ; and 
the meeting-house was built near the northeast corner of Broad Street, 
nearly opposite where the Union school-house now stands. Before 
coming to this decision repeated committees were sent, and careful 
measurements made from every separate house to each of the two sites 
suggested ; and a map was drawn which is now among the archives of 
the town. But the people north of the Rivulet would jiot acquiesce in 
the decision of the Court, and continued to agitate their grievances 
until allowed to withdraw and become a parish by themselves. A 
church was organized, which in September, 1761, was recognized by 
the Consociation. In April, 1762, Mr. Theodore Hinsdale was set over 
them as pastor, and a house of worship was erected about one and 
a quarter miles north of the old site. These two churches went on 
independently until September, 1793, — thirty-two years, covering the 
whole eventful period of the Revolutionary War and settlement of a 

permanent peace. 
Meanwhile Mr. 
Russell died, and 
in March, 1776, the 
Rev. David Row- 
land, of Providence, Rhode Island, was settled as his successor ; and in 
May, 1790, his son, Henry A. Rowland, was ordained as his colleague. 
At length an arrangement was made for the merging of the new 
church in the old, and 

the present meeting- jj^ /^ . /^7) /) f y 

house was built on a Jrf^/f^/^^^ wXi^'C^Sf^^-^C/^flB-'^-t-^Cii--^ 
site but a little to the ^'^~y 

south of the original ^"^ 

one, and the bridge and causeway were made, to facilitate travel between 
the two extremes ; while by way of compromise the Union school-house 
was located on the south side of the Farmington. Later, in 1822, the 
Conference House also was built upon that side. 

The successive ministers from the first have been : — 

Rev. John Warham, March 30, 1630, died April 1, 1670. 

" John Maverick, teacher, March 30, 1630, " Feb. 3, 1636. 

" Ephraim Huit, " Dec. 10, 1639, " Sept. 4, 1644. 

" Nathaniel Chauncey, pastor, 1668, removed 1680. 

" Samuel Mather, " March 3, 1685, died March 18, 1728. 

" Jonathan Marsh, " August, 1710, " Sept. 8, 1747. 

" William Russell, " July 4, 1754, " April 19, 1775. 

" David S. Rowland, " March 17, 1776, " Jan. 13, 1794. 

" Henry A. Rowland, " May 5, 1790, " 1835. 

" Charles Walker, " March 9, 1836, dismissed 1837. 

" Spofford D. Jewett, " June 12, 1839, " Oct. 31, 1843. 

" Theodore A. Leete, " Sept. 24, 1845, " Oct. 1, 1859. 

" Benj. Parsons, acting pastor, July, 1860, ins. May 29, 18G1, dis. 1865. 

" Gowen C. Wilson, "" March 1, 1866, mstalled Nov. 20, 1867. 



CHURCIIKS OK WINDSOK. 543 

Tlio church is without debt. Its house of \vorshi[) is in good repair. 
It has a parsonage vahiod at $2,5U0, a fund of iJi^OOO for support of the 
ministry, and one of J^SjOOO foi- insurance and repuii-s on organ. The 
churcii contiibutes from ijiTOO to ffl,OUO per year to various benevolent 
causes outside its own (icld. 

A Congregational church was formed in Poquonnuck Parish in 1724. 

R ^. S • ^ f. ^ vS § 






^1 - «.r^^' 


















544 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Its first pastor, the Rev. John Woodbridge, was settled in 1727 and 
dismissed in 1736. Tliis church had two other pastors — the Rev. 
Samuel Tudor from 1740 to 1757, and Rev. Daniel Foster from 
June 11, 1771, to Oct. 23, 1783 — before it was disbanded. 

For j-cars previous to the formation of the present Congregational 
Church of Poquonnock, the Second Ecclesiastical .Society procured 
preaching occasionally, sometimes by a Baptist, and sometimes by a 
Methodist ; but at last by a majority of one decided to sustain the Con- 
gregational order ; and June 2, 1 841, a church was formed having thirty- 
nine members. It has been served chiefly by men who were hired from 
year to year without settlement. The only two settled pastors were 
the Rev. Thomas H. Rouse, who supplied from 1852, was installed in 
1854, and dismissed in 1856 ; and the Rev. Silas Ketchum, who supplied 
from July, 1877, was installed May 1, 187'J, and died in April, 1880. 
The Rev. Cornelius B. Everest supplied about nine years, from 1843 ; 
and between the two pastorates the church was served by tlie Rev's. 
Henry G. Lamb, Ogden Hall, Charles H. Bissell, Josiah Peabody, N. G. 
Bonney, and William H. Phipps, each serving two or three years. 

The church edifice is a good brick building. The society owns 
also a very good parsonage, valued at <i3,000, and has a fund of $600, 
with no debt. The present membership of the church is about one 
hundred. The Rev. William Howard has served it as acting pastor 
since September, 1880. 

As early as 1790 a Methodist preacher, the Rev. George Roberts, 
preached in Windsor. Mr. Ethan Barker enters his certificate on the 

books of the First Ecclesias- 
tical Society, Oct. 10, 1793, 
t^ ^x/ ., „ . ^ xyr ^ _^ as follows: " Know all whom 



^^/>V^W->y 



this concerns that I have 
joined a society of Method- 
ists in Windsor." Mr. Barker afterward formed a class, which was 
reorganized in 1808 by the Rev. Laban Clark. Worship was kept up in 
private houses until 1822, when they built a church edifice ; and in 1823 
the following organized a board of trustees, consisting of Elisha Strong, 
Eli Wilson, Ethan Barker, Abel 

Barker, and Hiram Phelps. Tiie ^^ . 

membership numbers about 115. ^^'v' ,,y->-» //^^ /^ 
The Rev. David G. Downey is now y fCA-"*^ fT^ (J^'^e^^ 
preacher in charge. Mr. E. Spen- 
cer Clapp has served for many years as class leader. The church 
owns a neat and newly remodelled edifice, which is valued at <|o,000. 

Episcopal service was occasionally held in Windsor by the Rev. 
Arthur C. Coxe, then rector of St. John's Church, Hartford, now Bishop 
of Western New York ; and Dec. 14, 1842, a parish was organized in 
the town, with the following gentlemen as vestrymen : Isaac Under- 
hill, George Spaulding, Fitch Bissell, John Spencer, Alonzo M. Smith, 
Quartus Bedorthy, Samuel 0. Loomis, and Henry A. Bliss. Their first 
church, whose corner-stone was laid Nov. 6, 1843, was the one now 
owned and occupied by the Roman Catholics, a little south of Broad 
Street, on the Hartford road. The name of the parisli was at first 
St. Gabriel, but it was subsequently changed by act of the legislature 
to Grace Church Parish. For a M'hile the church was cared for and 



CHURCHES OF WINDSOR. 645 

supplied by the professors of Trinity College, Hartford. Its lirst resident 
rector, the Rev. Rcuol H. Tuttic, was clioscn in October, 18G0. On the 
25th of December, 18(i3, Mr. TuttU- made the society a thunksfrivinf: 
offering of $500, upon the recovery of his daugliter from a serious ilhicss". 
This was intended for the improvement and beautifying' of the cliurcii 
edifice. But the society at once moved to increase the sum sulliciently 
to build anew, and a l)eautiful stone church was erected on the south- 
east corner of Broad Street, costing 825,000. This house was conse- 
crated liy Bishop "Williams, Sept. 13, 18G5, the corner-stone having 
been laid Aug. 2, 18(34. The Rev. Mr. Tattle resigned his oflice, July 4, 
1870, but olliciated until liis successor, the Rev. Benjamin Judl<ins, 
accepted the charge, April 13,1871. The Rev. Mr. Judivius resigned 
Jan. 0, 1880, and the Rev. James B. Goodrich, tiie present rector, 
succeeded him, Ijeginning his labors the 1st of October. The present 
number of communicants in the church is about one hundred and 
twenty. 

Sometime near the middle of the la.st century a Baptist church was 
formed in Windsor. Its house of worship stood near where the school- 
house of the Fourth School District now stands, upon the Pociuonnock 
road. In common with their brethren of the early days they sufl'ered 
persecution at tlie hands of the established order. During the first 
quarter of this century many " signed off " from the old Ecclesiastical 
Society and joined the Baptists. 

A Baptist churcii was organized in the village of Rainbow, which 
was recognized by Council May 18, 1875. Mr. (ieorge L. Ilodge had 
sustained a prayer-meeting and secured occasional preaching previous 
to liis death, in 1867 ; and in that year public worship began, which 
was sustained by aid of the Second Baptist Church of Sufticld, their 
pastor, the Rev. Dr. Ives, giv- 
ing his aid and encouragement. 
The Rev. W. F. Hausell, D.D., 
preached then for some time, ^. 

and in Ajiril, 1870, became ^ 

pastor of the flock. He died Nov. 20, 1875. The Rev. W. K. Duan 
became pastor in July, 187(3, and served until .June G, 1878. The 
Rev. A. S. Burrows was chosen ])astor Oct. 1, 1878, and served until 
June, 1881. The Rev. G. W. Hinckley succeeded liim Nov. 1, 1881. 
A new church edifice, valued at *5,000, was dedicated, free from debt, 
July 8, 1880. 

There is also a Baptist society which occupies a iiall in the second 
story of tlie school-liousc of tlie First District. It has no cliurch organi- 
zation, but is led in worship by the Rev. Horace K. ("ooley. 

The churcli building fir.st occupied by the Episcojialians was 
bought by the Roman Catholics in 18(35, and since then there have 
l)een regular services lield in it l)y tiuit ciiurcii. The Rev's James 
Smith, Michael McAuley, Michael Kelly, James 0. R. Siieridan ofiiciate 
as priests, while residing at Windsor Locks. The membership is about 
one hundred and twenty-five. 



/^J^yf^^^.u&^^ 



%ru^i^ (S ■ h-zhi.,^ 



VOL. 11. — 35. 



546 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



EARLY WINDSOR FAMILIES. 



BY JABEZ H. HAYDEN. 



The following is a list of all the persons who can be traced to 
Windsor before 1650. Most of the names appear upon the land records 
of the town or in the genealogical record prepared by Matthew Grant, 
who prepared a list of the marriages and of the births " here in 




THE PALISADO 



Windsor." The dates do not necessarily mark the coming of the 
families, but give the first time their names appear on the records. 
Doubtless some, who were among the first settlers, bear dates here later 
than 1640, through their neglect to " bring in " a description of their 
land to the recorder at that time. Those of earlier dates are found 

1 Enlaiged from the general map. See also jiage .504, note 3. 



EARLY WINDSOR FAMITJEfi. 547 

in Orant's " Gcncalo-^Mcal RecDrcl," the " Colonial Rcconls," Mason's 
" History of the Pcquot War," and the list of the Saltonstall party. 
Removals are taken from the land records and from town histories. 
The '' History of Dorchester" is the voucher for those " wlio came up" 
from thence. 

The map shows where each person's house-land lay ; and the list, 
alphab(>tically arranged, gives a brief sketch of each settler, the breadth 
of his home-lot, whether it was set off to him by original grant or was 
bought by him, what was the size of his family, and other facts of 
historic and gcncalogic interest. Tlie settlers were as follows : — 

George Alexander (1644) bought Jasper Rawlins's placL-, lGi4, and lived there 
until 1G.55, when he sold to William Filly, and his nanie disappears. He 
married Susan , 1G44 : liad three sous aud two daughters born here. 

Be.nedictus Alford (1C37). Lot granted to him ten rods wide. Ho married 
Jane Newton, 1 G40 ; liad four sons and one daughter. 

Alexander Alkord (1G45) bought a lot eighteen rods wide. He married Mary, 
daughter of Richard Voare, 164C ; had three sons and four daughters. He 
sold liis place to Josiah Ellsworth, 16.54. 

JLiTTHEW Allen (1638), from Hartford, bought the Plymouth Company's 
house and lands. He had two sons and one daughter, born before 1638 ; 
he died, IG70. His son John Allen (AUyn) remained in Hartford, or 
returned there, and became secretary of the colony ; had a family of 
daughters. Thomas, another son of ilatthew AUen, married Abigail, daugh- 
ter of the Rev. John Warliam, 1658. He lived in the Brancker place until 
the death of his father, when he removed to his father's homestead ; had four 
sons and four daughters. 

Samuel Allen (1640) ("New England Historical and Genealogical Register" 
says, a brother of Matthew). Lot granted thirteen rods wide. Doubtless 
Allen's house stood on the east side of the highway, and probably all 
the houses between his aud Mr. Warliam's should have been represented 
as standing where the present highway is, with the highway running west 
of them. He died, 1G48, leaving a widow and six chUdren. His widow 
married AVilliam Hurlburt, and removed to Northampton, taking the Allen 
children with her. 

John Brancker (1G40), first schoolmaster, had a lot granted to him twelve rods 
wide. He died, 16G2. His widow married the Rev. Mr. Warliam. His 
homestead was sold to Thomas Allen, a son-in-law of Mr. Warhara. 

John Bancraft (1647) was living, 1647, in Francis Stiles's house. He married 
Hannah Duper, 1650; had three .sons and two daughters; he died, 1662. 
He bought, 1658, the lot north of the Ferry road and built upon it. 

Jeffrey Baker (1642) bought Thomas Ford's house and lot. He had a lot 
granted him west of the highway nine and one half rods wide, lie married 
Jane, daughter of William Rockwell, 1 642. They had two sons and three 
daughters; he died, 1655. 

Thomas Barber (1637), of the .Saltonstall party, had a lot granted to him twenty- 
two rods wide. He married Jane , 1640; had four sons and two daugh- 
ters ; he died, 16G2. His son John removed to Si>ringficld, Mass., and 
Thomas to Simsbury. Samuel remained ou the homestead. 

John Bartlett (1641) was living at Poquonnock, 1649. His lot and house 
were north of Thomits Holcomb's. He sold to Sanuiel, son of Mr. WiUiam 
Phelps, about 1651. In 1654 he owne<l and lived in a house on the mill 
highway, south of Daniel Clarke. He sold this place to John Case, 1C69, 
and removed to Simsbury. He had three sons and two daughters born here, 
1641-165L 



548 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Thomas Bascomb (1640), from Dorchester, bad lot granted him twenty-three 
rods wide. He sold it with dwelling-house to John Moses, 1G56, and 
removed to Northampton, ]Mass. Ho had one son and two daughters born 
here, 1640-1644. 

Thomas Bassett (1635), of the Saltonstall party, had a lot granted to him in 
the Palisado eight rods wide. He removed early, and has no family on the 
record. 

John Bennett (1648) may have been the party convicted by the Court, 1639. 
His first date here is 1648. He seems to have led a vagabond life, though 
for a little time he owned the house built by Peter Tilton. He had no 
family, and disappears after 1652. 

EiCHARD BiRGE (1640) had a lot granted to him fifteen rods wide. He married 
Elizabeth, daughter of Deacon Gay lord, 1641 ; had four sons and one daugh- 
ter. He died, 1651. His widow married Thomas Hoskins. His son Daniel 
had the homestead. His son John had, by will, his grandfather Gaylord's 
place, lately the Roswell Miller place. 

John Bissell (1640) had a lot granted to him twenty-two rods wide, and pur- 
chased twenty-five rods additional. He had four sons and two daughters. He 
died between 1677 and 1685. Only the youngest son was born here, date, 
1640. The sou John had the homestead. Thomas bought Gibbard's house 
on the Holcomb lot, west of the highway ; Samuel, the soutlieast corner of 
Bowfield ; Nathaniel, below the mouth of the Scantuck, on the east side of 
the Great Eiver. 

John Brooks (1650) contracted with the town to keep the ferry across the 
rivulet, the town agreeing to make him a cellar (dwelling) ten by fifteen feet 
"fit to dwell in." He married Susannah Hanmore, 1652 ; later he bought 
the north part of the Hubbard lot on Backer Row, and buUt upon it. He 
had two sons and six daughters ; removed to Simsbury. 

John Browton (1650) married Hannah, daughter of Thomas Bascomb, 1650. 
He was living on the William Filly place, 1652. He sold it, with the lot 
north of it, in 1653, and disappears. 

Thomas Buckland (1637) had a lot granted him nine and one half rods wide. 
He added by purchase George Hull's lot, lying east of the highway, fourteen 
and one half rods wide. He had three sons and five daughters, 1638-1654 ; 
he died, 1662. His son Timothy bought a house built by Saxton on the 
"William Rockwell lot, west of highway. He had two sons and eight daugh- 
ters. Another son, Nicholas, had the place of his grandfather, Nicholas 
Denslow. He had two sons and two daughters. The third son, Thomas, 
settled on the east side of the Great River. 

William Buell (1640) had a lot granted to him fourteen and one half rods wide. 
He married, 1640; had two sons and five daughters. His sou Samuel mar- 
ried Deborah, daughter of Edward Griswold, 1662 ; lived on the lot south of 
his father ; had one son, and removed to Homonoscett. Peter Buell, the other 
son, had his father's homestead. 

Joshua Carter (1638), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him about ten rods 
wide. The present road to Bissell's Ferry is on the south side of this lot, at 
the street, and crosses it in its course down the meadow hill. Carter died, 
1647. Arthur Williams married his daughter and occupied the homestead. 
Carter had three children born here ; two perished in the burning of liis 
house, 1653. Joshua, Jr., when of age, received his portion in the lot west 
of the street. He sold it and removed. 

Daniel Clarke (1644) bought a triangular lot, about thirt.y-six rods, along the 
mill highway. He married Mary, daughter of Thomas Newberry, 1644; had 
five sons and four daughters. His sou Nathaniel had the homestead. 

Henry Clarke (1640) had a lot granted to him, but not recorded, seven and 
one half rods wide. He added to it Captain Mason's place, south, and 



EARLY WINDSOR FAMILIES. 549 

Mr. Huit's, north. Mo had no children, and gave liis real estate to his niece, 
Elizabeth Fox, wife of Edward Chapman. He removed with the early 
.settlers of Hadley, Mass. 

Joseph Clarke (1G37), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him fourteen and 
one half rods wide. He had one son and one daughter. Hi.s wife died, 
1639; he died, 1G4I. His son Joseph died, 1659; his sister was his only 
heir. I find no record evidence that tiie three Clarkes were or were not 
brothers. 

Mary Collins, probably a widow (1640), had a lot eleven rods wide. She sold 
it to James Enno about 16.")3. She has no family recorded. 

Aaron Cooke (1()38), from Dorcliestcr, had a lot granted to hira twelve rods 
wide. He also owned a lot in the l'alis;ido, on which he doubtless lived 
during the Pe(iuot War. He afterward bought Mr. Huit's house and lot, ad- 
joining it on the south, and Parkman's lot, north. He liad four sons and two 
daughters born here, 1638-1657. He removed to Northampton, Mass., 1661, 
then to Westtiold, Mass. His sou Aaron married Saraii, daugliter of William 
Wcstwood, 1661, and hail his father's homestead, but soon followed his 
father-in-law to Hadley, Mass. 
,'Sathaniel Cooke (1649) bought the north end of the lots of Williams and 
Birge. He married Lydia, daughter of Richard Voare, 1649 ; had three sons 
and four daughters. 

Henry Curtis (1645) bought of John Denslow the Parkman place, on Backer 
Row. Ho married Elizabeth Abel, 1645; had two sons. 

Nicholas Denslow (1640), from Dorcliester, had a lot granted to him twenty- 
four rods wide. He owned tlio present Congregational parsonage lot in the 
Palisado, and lived there during the Pequot War. He died, 1666, aged 
ninety years. His homestead was given to his grandson. Nicholas Buckland. 
His son Henry liad one son and seven daughters, ami was the first .settler at 
Windsor Locks, about 1663. He was killed there by the Indians, 1676. 
John, son of Nicholas Denslow, married Mary Eggleston, 1655; had seven 
sons and tlireo daughters. He bougiit the Haunum [)lace, 1654. 

Tho.mas Dewey' (1637), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to hira ten rods 
wide. Ho married Frances Clarke, 1638 ; had four sons and one daughter. 
He died, 1648. His widow married George Plielps. His son Josiali wa3 
at Northampton, 1663. His son Israel lived here in the George Phillips 
place, and died, 1678. 

Thomas Dibble (1637), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him five and one 
halt" rods wide. He sold it to liobcrt Watson, and bought the William Hub- 
bard place in the Palisado, where he w.as living, 1654. He had four sons and 
one daughter born hero, 1637-1647. Probably Zachariah Dibble was an elder 
son of his. His son Israel had four sons and one daughter, 1661-1678. 
His son Ebenezer had three sons and two (laughters, 1664-1671, and was 
killed at the storming of the Narragansett fort, 1675. Another son, Samuel, 
li.ad two sons and four daughters, 1666-1680. 

Anthony Dorchester (1649) was living at the original William Phelps place, 
1649 ; soon after that ho disappears. 

John Drake, Sr. (1640), had a lot granted to him twenty-two and one half rods 
wide. He had three sons and two daughters, all l>orn before lie came to 
Windsor. His son Job had a lot granted to him. He married Mary, daugh- 
ter of Henry Wolcott, 1646, and had two sons and five daughters. Tiie 
second son, .lohn, had a lot granted to him. He married Hannah, ilaughter 
of Deacon Moore, and had five sons and .six dauglitere, 1640-1674. The 
third son, Jacob, married Mary, daughter of John Bissell, and had no children. 
He had the homestead. 

John Dumuleton (1640), a servant of Mr. Whiting, of Hartfonl, worked the 
lands bought of Ludlow until his term of service expired, after which ho 



550 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

worked the land on shares four years until 1648 (?), when he removed to 
Springfield, where he was living, 1684. No family recorded. 

Beggat Eggleston (1638), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him on 
Backer Row fourteen and one half rods wide. He probably lived here previous 
to the Pequot War (1637), and remained in the Palisado after the war, and 
sold liis original house-lot to Nicholas Hoyte. He bought two adjoining lots 
in the Palisado, and was living at the north end of Palisado Green, 1654. 
He had three sons and four daughters born here, 1638-1653. James and 
probably Samuel were born before coming here. He died, 1674, "near 100 
years old." His son James had four sons and four daughters, 1656-1676. 
He lived on the Samuel Allen place; died, 1679. Another son, Benjamiu, 
had the homestead in the Palisado, and sold his brother Thomas half an acre 
to build upon, opposite the town-house. 

James Enno (1648) bought Mary Collins's lot and house. He married Anna 
Bidwell, 1648, and had two sons and two daughters. His son James married 
Abigail, daughter of Samuel Bissell, 1678 ; John married Mary, daughter of 
Ebenezer Dibble, 1681. 

Walter Filer (1640), from Dorchester, had lots granted to him. His house 
was in the Palisado, on or near the site of Miss Stiles's house, at the south end 
of the Green. He had two sons and four daughters. His son John married 
Elizabeth Dolman, 1672, and had the homestead. His son Zerubbabel mar- 
ried Experience, daughter of John Strong, 1669, and had four sons and one 
daughter. Thomas Ford gave them the Hosford place. 

William Filly (1640) had a lot granted to him eleven and one half rods wide. 
He sold this place and bought others. He probably lived at the Rawlins 
place after he bought it, 1655. He had three sons and four daughters, 1643- 
1665. His son Samuel married Anna, daughter of Jonathan Gillett, 1663, 
and had five sons and four daughters. His father gave him land " on which 
he had builded," from the north part of the Rawlins lot. 

Thomas Ford (1637), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him sixteen and 
three fourths rods wide. He had four daughters. "Joan married Eoger 
Clapp [Dorchester] ; another married Aaron Cooke ; Abigail, the eldest, 
married, in 1630, John Strong; and Hepzibah married Richard Lyman 
[Hartford?]." He sold his place, and in 1656 he bought of Stephen Taylor 
the original Hosford lot, where he lived until his removal to Northampton, 
Mass., before 1672. He gave the Hosford place to Z. Filer, who married 
his granddaughter. Experience Strong. 

Henry Foulkes (Fookes) came from Dorchester. He had land granted to him. 
He died, 1640. His widow married WilHam Hosford, who removed to the 
Fookes lot. 

Ambrose Fowler (1646) married Jane Alford, 1646. He had three sons and 
four daughters. In 1655 the town granted him his house-lot. He sold it to 
Thomas Allen, 1671. 

Deacon AYilliam Gaylord (1640), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him 
twenty-five rods wide. This lot was occupied by the late Eoswell Miller. He 
had four sons and one daughter born before he came to Windsor. He died, 
1673, aged eighty-eight. Of his sons, William married Anna Porter, 1644. 
He hadthree sons and two daughters. His wife died, 1653. He married 
Elizabeth, daughter of John Drake, and had two sons. In 1644 he bought 
his home-lot oi Francis Stiles, thirteen rods wide. He died, 1656. Walter 
married Mary Stebbins, 1648. He had four sons and three daughters. 
He bought the :Michael Sension place. Samuel married Elizabeth Hull, 
1646. He had one son and five daughters. He bought the Samways 
place. John married Mary, daughter of John Drake, Sr., 1653. He had 
two sons and two daughters. He had his father's home-lot west of the street, 
and built there. 



EARLY WINDSOR FAMILIES. 551 

Francis Giubs (16-tO) is known only by a siuylo entry of a lot four roila 
wide, adjoining " the burying place " in the Palisado. Later, Wilton had 
his lot. 

Giles Giuus (I'MO), from Dorchester, had a lot grantt'd to hiui seventeen 
rods wide, !•) which Thomas Staires's lot, ten and one half roils wide, was 
added. He had three sons and one daughter, born before he came to Windsor. 
He died, 1041. His son Jacob married Elizabeth Aiidruss, 1057, and had 
two sons and live daughters. He remained on the homestead. Samuid, 
another son, married Hepzibah, daughter of Thomas Dibble, 1CG4. Ho had 
two sons and six daughters. He bought of Jacob Drake the Winchell place, 
first south of till' present Ferry road. 

Thom.vs Gilbeut ((hi.BURi)) (1044) bought a lot eleven and one half rods wide. 
This he sold to Drake with " the cellar, hou.se, garden, fences." In the deed 
of Francis Stiles to Robert Saltonstall, 1047, it is specified that the house and 
land are " at present in the occupation and tenure of Thomas Gilbert and 
John Bancraft." Gilbert continued to live at the Francis Stiles place aa late 
as 1651. He bought the home-lot of Thomas Gunn on the west side of the 
street, and built upon it. This last he sold to Thomas Eissell, 1658, and 
removed to Hartford, where he died, 1659. No record remains of any 
family. 

JoxATH.vx GiLLKrr (1039), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him seventeen 
rods wide. He had two sons and one daughter born before coming here, and 
five sons and two daughters born here, 1039-1650. Of his sons, Cornelius 
married, and had two sons and five daughters born, 1659-1078. He bought 
of Josiah Ellsworth the A. Alford place, which remained in the family until 
the death of the late Lieutenant Cornelius Gillett, about 1806. Jonathan 
married Mary Kelsey, 1001 ; had two sons and one daughter. Then he 
married Miriam, daughter of Thomas Dibble, 1076, and had two sons. He 
bought that part of the Hydes lot lying east of the Mill road, and probably 
built there. Joseph married Elizaljeth, daughter of John Hawkes ; had four 
sons and three daughters born, 1004-1074. He bought the Hawkes place, 
and remained there until about 1073, when he removed to Deerlield, Mass. 
John married Mary, daughter of Thomas Barber, 1669, and had four sons. 
He bought Joseph Plielps's place, west of William Phelps, Jr., and probably 
lived there. Jeremiah, in 1680, had his uncle Nathan Gillett's place, who had 
removed to Simsbury in 1670. Josiah had the homestead. 

Nathan Gillptt (1637), from Dorclioster, had a lot gmnted to him seventeen 
rods wide. He had three sons and five daughters. After the death of his 
wife, 1670, he removed to Simsbury. His lot was sold to his brother 
Jonathan, then to his nephew .Jeremiah. 

Matthew Gk.\nt (1635), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him nine rods 
wide. He had four sons and one daughter. Ilis first wife died, 1044, and 
he married the widow of William Rockwell in 1045. He died, 1081. His 
son Samuel, born in Dorchester, married JIary, daughter of John Porter, 
1658. He had five sous and two daughters. He built and lived on the 
east side of the river on the highest part of the meadow, lying between the 
site of the old Theological Seminary buildings and the river. Another son, 
Tahan, born in Dorchester, married Hannah, daughter of Nicholas Palmer, 
1662. He had five sous and three daughters. He lived on the .Michael 
Try lot. Another son, John, born here in 1042, married Mary, daughter of 
Josiah Hull in 1666. He had one son and three daughters. He had a 
portion of the homestead, and at his father's death, 1081, came into possession 
of it all. 

"Thomas Gridley (1637) of Windsor" was convicted by the Court, 1639. He 
was a soldier in the Peiiuot War. and received bounty lands, 1071. There 
is no evidence of his living in Windsor after 1039. 



552 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

John Griffin (1647) married Anna Bancraft, 1647. He had four sons and six 
daughters. He had no house-lot recorded here. He was among the earliest 
settlers at Massaco. When John Drake, St., was killed, 1659, Griffin was 
living at the Francis Stiles or the Henry Stiles house. 
Edward Griswold (16.39) came from England with the Eev. Mr. Huit, 1639. 
It is not probable that he removed to the lot granted him at Poquonnock until 
the Indian title had been extinguished, 1642 ; but be was living there with 
two other fiimilies in 1649. His house stood near the present residence of 
Mr. Laild, probably nearer the highway, at the top of the bill. He had twenty- 
nine acres, bounded south and west by the brook, east by the river and the 
Indian reservation (Indian Neck). He had two sons who were subject to 
military duty as early as 1649, also three sons and three daughters born here, 
1 642-1 651. Edward Griswold removed with the first settlers to Homonos- 
cett. His son George married Mary, daughter of Thomas Holcomb, and 
had six sons and three daughters, 1656-1676. He and his brother Joseph 
had the homestead. Joseph married Mary, daughter of Walter Gaylord, 
1670, and had one son and one daughter. Another son, Francis, removed 
to Norwich. 
Thomas Gunn (1640), from Dorchester, had a lot gi'anted to him twelve rods 
wide. He had one son and three daughters, I640-I647. He removed to 
"W^estfield, Mass., and gave his homestead to Timothy Thrall, who married his 
daughter Deborah. 
William Hannum (1640), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him five rods 
six feet wide on the east side of the street, and ten and three fourths rods on 
the west side. He sold the east side to Eobert Winchell, and built on the 
west side. He bought the Tilly lot adjoining it on the north, and sold the 
whole to John Denslow in 1655, and removed to Northampton. He had four 
children born here. 
John Hawkes (1640) had a lot granted to him eleven rods wide. He had five 
sons and five daughters, 1 643-1 659. He removed to Hadley, Mass., about 
1660, and subsequently gave his place to Joseph Gillett, who had married his 
daughter in 1664. 
Anthony H.\wkins (1640) had a lot granted to him eight rods wide. He had 
one son and two daughters, born 1644-1651. He exchanged places with 
Eobert Watson, and removed to the Dibble place, and added by purchase 
from Widow Samways the adjoining lot on the north. He sold both lots, 
1654, to Jacob Drake, and removed to Farmington. 
William Hayden (1640), from Dorchester, bought a lot fiifty-four rods 
wide. He had two sons and one daughter, 1640-1648. He was a resident of 
Hartford, 1637. He removed to Homonoscett with the first settlers. 
His son Daniel married Hannah, daughter of William Wilcockson, 1664. 
He had four sons and one daughter. He had his father's homestead. 
Nathaniel removed to Homonoscett with his father, and had a family of 
daughters. 
Eobert Hayward (Howard) (1643), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to 
him. He had one son and four daughters, born 1646-1656. He sold to 
Peter Brown, 1658, and removed. He was at Hartford, 1667. 
William Hill (1640), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him twelve rods 
wide. He married Fillis, daughter of Eichard Lyman, of Hartford, before 
April 22, 1640. He also built a house and barn on his lot on the east side 
of the river, which he sold to Samways and Stephen Taylor in 1648. He 
bouglit the lots of Bassett and Gibbs, and sold them with his own to David 
Wilton in 1653. He removed to Fairfield. 
John Hillier (1640) had a lot granted to him thirteen rods wide. He 
had nine children. He died, 1656. His son Andrew settled in Simsbury. 
Timothy had the homestead, which he sold to his brother James, 1679. 



EARLY WINDSOR FAMILIES. 553 

Thomas Holcomb (1638), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to hiin fouitoen 
and one half rods wide. lie had four sons and four daughters, 1G38-1G52. 
He sold this place to Josiali Hull, and removed to Poquonnock, wliero lie liad 
a lot next nortli of Edward Griswold, " from tlie brook before! lii.s house to tlie 
Rivulet." He died, 1G;57. His son Joshua married Ruth Sharwooil, 1CG3, 
and had one sou and two daughters. He had liis father's homestead. 
Another son, Benajah, married Sarali Enno, 1GG7, and had two sons. 

William Hosfoud (1G39), from Dorchester, liad a lot granted to him twenty 
rods wide. His wife died, 1G41, and he married the widow of Henry Fookes. 
He gave liis own place to his son-in-law, .Stephen Taylor, and removed to the 
Fookes place. He returned to England, and in 1G3.5 gave the last-named 
place to his son John, wlio married Pliillup, daughter of William Thrall, 1G57. 
John had six sons ami three daugliters. 

John Hoskiss (1640), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him seventeen rods 
wide (the late David Ellsworth place). He died, 1G48. His son Thomaa 
married the widow of Richard Birge, and liad one son. 

Simon Hoyte (1640), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him, " for meadow 
and upland," eighty acres. The liouse stooel a few rods soutliwest from the 
present David Ellsworth house, in Hoyt's meadow. His family was living 
here, 1640. He sold the place to William Thrall, 1646, and removed to 
Fairfield. His son Nicholas had several out-lots granted to him, and bought 
Beggat Eggleston's place on Backer Row. He married Susannah Joice, 1G4G, 
and had four sons. He died, 1 655. Another son, Walter, had several out- 
lots granted to hira also, and bought Elias Parkmau's place, adjoining his 
brother's. He had tliree children. He sold his place to John Denslow, and 
removed to Norwalk. 

The Rev. Ephraim IIuit (1639) had neglected to make the proper return, and 
his lands are not recorded. He probably lived at first on the west side of 
the Palisado Green (marked Cooke on the map), but bought the Staires place 
on the east side, whei'e he already owned a lot. His family lived on the 
Staires place at the time of his death. He had one son and five daughters, 
only one of whom was born here. He died 1644. 

William Hulbekd (Hubuarh) (lG40),from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him 
on Backer Row. He jirobably removed from this lot into the Palisado, 1637. 
He sold the first lot, twelve rods wide, 1G41, to John Youngs. Ho sold the 
Palisado lot to Thomas Dibble. He had two chihlren born here. He married 
the widow of Samuel Allen, and removed to Xorthamiiton. 

George Hull (1637), from Dorchester, had a lot thirty rods wide. This lot, 
"as purchased of George Hull," was granted to Governor John Haynes, of 
Hartford, together with several out-lots, but the premises were " in the tenure 
of George Hull," 1646, and ho doubtless continued to live ou the Governor's 
flirm until his removal to Fairfield. Hull only bnilt a barn on the lot granted 
to himself, which lay between Buckland and Terry. George Hull's family 
were born before coming to Wimisor. His will, 1649, names three sons and 
three daughters. His son Josiah (1640) had a lot granted to him twelve 
rods wide. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph Loomis, 1641, and had 
five sons and six daughters. He sold his lot with the dwelling-house, and 
bought Thomas Holcomb's place, whence he removed to Homonoscett with 
the first settlers of that town. Cornelius, sou of George, went to Fairfield 
with his fiither. 

Michael Humphrey (1647) bought Jeffrey Baker's lot west of the street, and 
built near the west end of it, where the liigliway now turns north. He mar- 
ried Priscilla, daughter of JIatthew Grant, 1G47. He had two sons and five 
daughters, lie removed to Simsbury with the early settlers. 

John Hurd (1640) had a lot granted to him ten rods wide. He sold it early to 
Thomas JIarshfield, and removed to Fairtield. 



554 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

Humphrey Hydes (1645) bought of Alexander Alford a lot sixteen rods wide on 
the east side of the mill road, ten rods west. He sold it to Simon Mills about 

/ 1653, and removed to Fairtield. 
/Joseph Loomis (164:0) had a lot granted to him thirty-five rods wide. He had 
two children born here. He died, 1658. (This lot is now occupied by 
Thomas W. Loomis.) Of the sous, Joseph married Sarah Hill, 1645, and had 
two sons and two daughters. He married, second, Mary Chauncey in 1659, 
and had five sons and two daughters. By gift of his father in 164.3 he re- 
ceived a lot twelve rods wide, next north of Matthew Allen, on which he 
built. John married Elizabeth Scott, and had eleven sons and two daughters. 
He had his father's homestead. Thomas married Hannah "Fox, 1653, and 
had two sons and two daughters. He married for a second wife Mary Judd, 
and had two sous and five daughters. By gift of his father he received a lot 
twelve rods wide, east of the highway, between his brother Joseph and 
H. Wolcott, Jr. Nathaniel married Elizabeth Moore, and had seven sons and 
five daughters, 1655-1680. He bought the lot and house of John !M(isps on 
the west side of the street, directly opposite Joseph Loomis, Jr. Kathaniel 
was among the early settlers on the east side of the Great Kiver. Samuel had 
two sons and three daughters, 1660-1670. He bought Mr. Witchfield's place. 
He removed to Westfield, !Mass. 

Roger Ludlow (1635), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him of one hun- 
dred and twenty-two acres. He built a stone house at the east end of his lot. 
He had one child born here. He removed to Fairfield, and sold his land here 
to William Whiting, at whose death, 1649, it was sold to John Bissell. 

Richard Lym.\n (1644), "of Windsor," son of Richard Lyman, of Hartford, 
and grandson of Thomas Ford, of AVindsor, sold land in 1644. He had no 
family. 

James Marshall (1642) bought a lot thirteen rods wide. There is no evidence 
of a house on this lot. Possibly he never came here. William Hill and 
William Gaylord, his lawful attorneys, sold his lands here. He was recorded 
at that time as " of Exon, in Devon, Eng." 

Thomas Marshfield (1637), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him tM'elve 
rods wide, and added to it Hurd's lot, ten rods wide. He sold the same, 
1642, to Thomas Xowell. He " withdrew himself from his habitation " before 
1647, and the Court ordered the sale of his property to pay his debts. Roger 
Williams was the purchaser of his homestead. 

Captain John Mason (1637), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him thirteen 
rods wide. He had four children born here. He removed to Say brook, 1647. 
Sold his place, 1653, to Henry Clarke. 

Miles Merwin (1648) was a nephew of the Rev. Mr. Warham. In 1650 he 
bought from Roger Williams the Marshfield place, and sold it, 1652. He was 
living in 1684, but not in Windsor. 

Edward Messenger (1650) had three children. He lived at Greenfield, now 
Bloomtield. 

Thomas Moore (1639), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him eleven rods 
wide. He was the father of Deacon John Moore, and probably came from 
Dorchester, but is not found among the Dorchester names. He died, 1645. 
Deacon John Moore, from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him ten rods wide, 
next south of his father's. He had two sons and one daughter born here. 
The father probably lived in the family of Deacon John, who lived on 
the home-lot after 1645. The two lots correspond very nearly with the 
grounds of the present residence of H. S. Hayden. 

John Moses (1647) married Mary Brown, 1653, and had three sons and four 
daughters. He Ijought the lot of Joseph Loomis, west of the street, and sold 
it with a house to Nathaniel Loomis, 1655, and bought the Bascomb place, 
1656. He removed with the early settlers to Simsbury. 



EARLY WINDSOR FAMILIES. 555 

Thomas Newberry (1636), from Dorchester, after making preparations here, re- 
turned to Dorchester to bring his fiuuily, and died tliore, 1636, leaving three 
sons and four daughters. His widow married the Rev. John Warham ; his 
lands were not recorded to him, but directly to his children under date of 
1640. His son Josepli liad a lot granted, ten rods wide. A part of tliia lot, 
with a frame standing thereon (a few rods south of tlie present resirlence of 
David Rowland), was sold to Mr. Warham, 1644, and Jose[)h removed. His 
attorneys sold his lands for him, 16r)3. John had land granted, but he soon 
disappears. Captain Benjamin married Mary, daughter of Mattliew Allen, 
1646. He had two sons and seven daughters. He bought tlie Roger 
Williams place. 

Thomas Xowell (1641) bought a lot in the I'alisado, which he sold, 1647, to 
Eggloston. He bought the Ilurd lot of .\Lirsiilield, 1642, and <lied there, 
1648, leaving a widow, after whose death his estate was to go to Christopher 
Nowell, of Wakefield, England. 

Richard Oldage (1640) had a lot granted to him twelve rods wide. He had 
one daughter. He died, 1660. The liomestead descended to his daughter, 
the wife of John Osborn. 

Thomas Outox (1646) received from the town a grant of the lot which Thomas 
Ellison had forfeited by not " two years inhabiting it." He had one son and 
three daughters, 1647-1654. He sold to Samuel Phelps about 1650, and 
bought tlie lot and house of Widow Whiteiiead, where he remained until 
1655, and then removed to Farmington. 

JoH.v OsBOBX (1645) married Ann, daugliter of Richard Oldage, 1643. He had 
five sons and five daugliters. He bought the house and lot of Peter Tilton, 
1654, and had the Oldage place after 1660. 

John Owex (1650) married Rebecca Wade, 1650. He had nine sons and two 
daugliters. He bought a lot twelve rods by twenty-nine. He remained on 
it about twenty yeaivs, when he removed to tiio lot granted at tlie lower end 
of Strawberry Meadow. His house stood whore the late Nathaniel Owen 
lived. 

N1CH.0LAS Palmer (1637) had a lot granted to liim eleven rods wide. He added 
to it by the purcliasc of William Thrall's lot, thirteen rods wide. He had 
one son and three daugliters. His sou Timothy married Hannah, daughter 
of William Buell, 1663, and had three sons and five daughters. He had liis 
father's homestead. 

Elias Parkman (1637), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him fourteen and 
one half rods wide. He also had a lot in the Pali.sado, and probably re- 
mained there after the Pecjuot War until ho left Windsor and went to 
Saybrook. He had two children bmn here. 

Thomas Parsoxs (1641) bought from Saxton the Jlichael Try place. He mar- 
ried Lydia P.rown, 1641 ; had five .sons and three daughtere. He died, 1661. 
His place was sold, 1662, to Taiian Grant. 

George Phelps (1638), from Dorchester, iiad a lot granted to him eight and one 
half rods wide, to which he added a lot si.x roils wide .set to Christopher 
Wolcott. He married a daughter of Philip Randall, ami had three sons. 
His wife died, 1648, aud ho married the widow of Thomas Dewey, 
and had three sons. He lived at the Dewey jilace until his removal to West- 
field, Mass., with the first settlers. Of his .son.s, Abraham received by gift liis 
uncle Abraham llandall's place. He married ^Lary, daughter of Hum|>hrey 
Pinney, 1665. Joseph married Mary, daughter of John Porter, Jr., 1673. 
He had one son and two daughters. Ho settled " over tlie Great River." Isaac 
married Ann, daughter of William Gaylord, Jr., 1665. He hail two sons and 
one daughter. He removed to WesttieM, Mas.s. 

Mr. William Piielp-s (1636), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him six rods 
wide, next north of Rossetcr. Here lie probably lived at first, but he early 



556 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

removed to the high ground overlooking his meadow lot, which he bought of 
the Indians "about 1635." He had one son and one daughter born here, and 
four sons born before he came here. He died, 1672. Of his sons, William 
married Isabelle Wilson, 1645, and for a second wife, Sarah, daughter of 
Humphrey Pinney. He had no children. He died, 1682. Samuel married 
Sarah, daughter of Edward Griswold, 1650. He had six sons and four 
daughters. He bought John Bartlett's house at Poquonnock, where he died, 
1669. Nathaniel married Elizabeth Copley, 1650, and had two daughters 
born here. He lived at the Orton place, near his father, but removed to 
Northampton. Joseph married Mary Newton, 1660, and had one son and 
one daughter born here, and two sons and one daughter born at Simsbury. 
He had a house west of his brother William, near the present Pocjuonnock 
road, which he sold, 1668, to John Gillett. He died, 1684. Timothy mar- 
ried Mary, daughter of Edward Griswold, 1661, and had six sons and two 
daughters. He had his father's homestead. 

Geobge Phillips (1640), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him twelve rods 
wide. His wife died, 1662, and he died, 1678. He had no children. 

Humphrey Pinney (1640), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him seven- 
teen rods wide. To this he added by purchase the Josiah Hull lot, twelve 
rods wide. He married, " in Dorchester, Mary Hull ; " one son was born 
there, and three sons and three daughters were born here, 1641-1663. His 
son Samuel married Joyse, daughter of John Bissell, 1665, and had one 
son and one daughter. Another son, Nathaniel, married Sarah, daughter of 
Edward Griswold and widow of Samuel Phelps, 1670. He had one son and 
one (laughter. 

Plymouth House (1633). Lot, forty-three and three fourths acres, Indian title. 
The material for the house was prepared in Plymouth, Mass., and landed here, 
Oct. 16 (26), 1633. When the pioneers from Massachusetts came here in the 
early summer, 1635, they were entertained at this house by Jonathan, son of 
Elder Brewster, and we find him here still in 1636. When the Plymouth 
Company sold their claim to the Dorchester people, 1637 (which covered a 
larger tract than is shown in the accompanying map), they reserved this 
lot and house and certain other tracts of uplands. These were sold, 1638, to 
Matthew Allen, of Hartford, who came here and occupied them. There is 
strong presumptive evidence in support of the tradition that Mr. Allen used 
the material of this house in the construction of the house thai he built on 
the reserved "acre on the hill." 

Eltwood Pomroy (1638), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him fifteen rods 
wide. He had three sons and one daughter, 1638-1652. He sold his house 
and lot in the Palisado to Thomas Nowell, 1641. He removed to North- 
ampton before October, 1671. His son Caleb married Hepzibah, daughter of 
JeftVey Baker, 1664, and had one daughter. He had his father's home-lot 
west of the street. He sold it, " with the frame of a dwelling," and removed 
to Northampton, Mass. 

Samuel Pond (1641) bought a lot twenty-eight and one half rods wide. He 
married Sarah Ware, 1 642. and had three sons and one daughter. He died, 
1654. His son Isaac married Hannah, daughter of John Griffin, 1667. He 
had one daughter. He died, 1669. His son Nathaniel was mortally wounded 
at the storming of the Narragansett fort, 1 675. 

John Porter (1639) had a lot granted to him about twenty-two rods wide at the 
highway. His south line extended from the meadow fifty rods west. He had 
two sons and four daughters, and he died, 1648. 

Philip Eandall (1640), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him twelve rods 
wide. He built on the west side of the street, and died in 1648. His son 

Abraham married Mary , 1640. She died, 1677. He had no children. 

He had his father's homestead, but had previously built a house on the east 



EARLY WIXDSOR FAMILIES. 507 

side of the street, opposite his father's. This lie gave in 1G78 to his nephew, 
Abrahara Plioljis, sou of George Phelps. 

Jasper Kawlins (1040) rciuoveJ to " Koxbury in the Massachusetts," and in 
1G44 sold his land in Windsor, with the housing and other ai)piirtenanees, to 
George Alexamler. 

AYii,i,i.\M R()t'K\vEi-L (1640), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him si.xteen 
and three fiuirths rods wide. He had but one child born here. He died, 
1640. His widow married Matthew Grant. His son John married Mary 
Ensign, 16.51. Ho had three daughters, and married, for his second wife, 
Deliverance Haye.«, I()G2, by whom he had two sons and two daughters. He 
died, 167.3. Ho had his fother's homestead. His son Samuel married Mary 
Newton, and had four sons and three daughters, 1G61-167S. Uo was one of 
tlie early settlers " over the Great Itiver." 

•John Rockwell (1640) had a lot gi-anted to him eleven rods wide. He had one 
son and two daughters, born elsewhere. He died, IGG'2. His son Simon had 
his father's liomestea<l, and died without ftimily, 1GG.5, leaving his estate 
to the children of his two sisters, wives of Robert Watson and Zachary 
Sanford. 

Bray Rosseter (1<)40), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him twenty rods 
wide. He had six children born here, and removed to Guilford, 1G52. His 
house and lot were sold in 1657 to Samuel Mai-shall, and in 1660 he sold 
them to Anthony Hoskins. 

JoH.v St. Nicholas (1G39) had a lot granted to him twenty rods wide. He 
probably came here with Mr. Huit in 1639, and returned soon after his lot 
was granted. Tiiis, " witli the dwelling house," was sold by his attorneys to 
John and Jacob Drake. 

Richard Samos (Samways) (1640) had a lot granted to him twelve rods wide. 
He sokl this to .Samuel Gaylord, and bought Winchell's lot, where he died, 
1650, leaving one son and two daughters. His widow sold the place to 
Stephen Taylor. 

Richard Saxton (164G) married Sarah Cook, and had three sons and three 
daughters, 1G47-1GG1. lie died, 1G62. He bought first the Michael Try place, 
and probably lived there. He owned for a time the Stuckey house and lot. 
He also bought a part of the William Rockwell lot, west of the street, and sold 
it, with the house, to Timothy Buckland in IGGl. It is uncertain whether he 
lived in either of the last two mentioned. He bought the Humphrey Hydes 
place, and died there, 1GG2. His sun John married Mary, daughter of Luke 
Hill, 1677. Another son, Richard, was fatally wounded at the storming of 
the Narragansett fort, 1675. 

Matthias Sexsiox (1640), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him in the 
Palisado ten rods wide. He had three children born here, and removed to 
Norwalk. Ho sold this place and his lot on Backer Row to Walter Gaylonl. 

Nicholas Sexsiox (164:?) in 1G45 married Isabclle . lie had no children. 

He bought Weller's lot, 1G43, and b\iilt upon it. 

Thomas Staiues (1637) had a lot on Backer Row, sold to Gibbs, also a house 
and a lot in the Palisado seven and one half rods wide, which was sold by his 
attorneys to the Rev. Mr. Huit about 1640. 

Francis sViles (1635), of the Saltonstall party, had a lot granted to him thirty- 
one rods wiile. This included the hit of tiiirteen rods whicii he sold to Wil- 
liam Gaylord, Jr. He had four children born liei-e. He removed to Saybrook, 
and sold his place in 1647 to Robert Saltonstall. It is the present Chief 
Justice Klls worth place. 

Henry Stilks (1G35), of the Saltonstall party, had a lot granted to him forty- 
two rods wide, bounded north by the road to the Ferry. He was unmarried, 
and boanled at the time of his death with Thomas Gilliert, who occupied the 
Francis Stiles house. The " Cellar," which appears in his inventory, was a 



558 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUXTY. 

dwelling. He was accidentally killed while performing niilitar}- duty, 1651 
His lot became the property of his brother John. 

John Stiles (1635), of the Saltonstall party, had a lot granted to him twelve 
rods wide. He had two children born here. He died, 1662. His son 
Henry married Elizabeth Wilcockson, 1663, and had one son and four 
daughters. 

Thomas Stiles (1635), of the Saltonstall party, one of the Stiles brothers, re- 
moved early. His lands were not recorded. John Bissell's land was bounded 
south by Thomas Stiles's, and lie afterward bought ten rods that had been 
Thomas Stiles's. Doubtless the lot recorded to Egglestone was at lirst a part 
of said Thomas's lot. The Stiles grants extended from twenty rods north of 
the Ferry road to a few rods below the ruins of the late Colonel Ellsworth's 
house. 

Thomas Stoughton (1640), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him twenty- 
seven rods wide. He died, 1661. His son Thomas married Mary Wads- 
worth. He had four sons and three daughters, 1757-1773. He had his 
father's homestead, which has continued in the family to the present time, 
occupied now by the family of the late Harvey Stoughton. 

John Strong (1647), from Dorchester, bought the Thornton place, where he 
lived until his removal to Xortham]iti.in, !Mass. He married Abigail, daugh- 
ter of Thomas Ford ; had two sons and live daughters born here, 1647— 
1661. 

George Stuckey (1640) bought lot twelve rods on Backer Row, originally set to 
John Taylor. He built upon it, and sold it to Richard Weller, 1645, and 
disappeared from the records. 

John Taylor (1640) had originally a lot on Backer Row. He had a house in 
the Palisado, which his widow sold to Beggat Eggleston. He had three 
children born here. 

Stephen Taylor (1642) married Sarah, daughter of William Hosford, 1642. 
He liad five sons and two daughters. He had the Hosford place, where he 
lived until 1656, when he sold to Thomas Ford. He probably removed at 
once over the Great River, where his name appears among the first settlers. 

Stephen Terry (1637), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him fourteen and 
one half rods wide. He had one'son and two daughters, 1637-1646. He 
removed to the Hurd place, and gave the original homestead to his son John, 
who married Elizabeth Wadsworth, 1662, and had three sons and five 
daughters. He, John, sold the homestead, 1676, to Samuel Farnsworth, and 
removed to Simsbury. 

Thomas Thornton (1640), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him, not re- 
corded. He had five children born here. His original lot was on Backer 
Row. He sold his house and land in the Palisado to John Strong about 
1647, and was living in Stamford, 1653. 

William Thrall (1637) had a lot granted to him thirteen rods wide. He had 
two children. William Thrall and Robert Wilson bought Simon Hoyte's 
place in Hoyte's Meadow, 1646, and divided the house and land in the 
middle, and both families lived there until 1654, when Thrall bought out 
Wilson. Thrall died, 1678. His son 'J'imothy (born 1631) married Deborah, 
daughter of Thomas Gunn, 1659, and had five sons and four daughters. He 
had his father's homestead. 

John Tilly (1636), from Dorchester, was killed by the Pequot Indians, 1636. 
His lot was recorded to his wife, Eady (Edith) Tilly. She married Nicholas 
Campe, of Milford, and sold the lot to Robert Winchell. 

Peter Tilton (1641) bought a lot of Anthony Hawkins four rods wide. He had 
one son and two daughters, 1642-1647. He sold this lot before 1652 to 
John Bennett, bought the Buckland home-lot, west of the street, built upon 
it, and sold it to Samuel Marshall, 1659, and removed to Hadley, Mass. 



/' 



EARLY WINDSOR FAMILIES. 559 

Michael Trv (Tray) (1640) had a lot granted to him seven rods vnde. His 
wife diei], IfilG, and he sold his place to Richard Saxton, and removed. He 
was living in IGfiO. 

Owen Tudor (1G4'J) nianied Mary, widow of John Skinner, of Hartford, and 
daujihtcr of Ji>so|)li Loouiis. He jiad two sons and tiiree daughters. He 
bought the John Wyatt place, 1(549. 

Richard Voark (Vohi;) (1G4(I) had a lot granted to him five rods wide. (This 
lot it? now occupied l)y the academy building.) Ho had four daugliters, born 
elsewhere. He was living here, 1G82. 

The Rev. .loH.v Wariiam (1G38), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him 
of sixteen acres, bounded north by Mill Brook. In 1G44 he added to it 
Josepli Newberry's lot, ten rods, from the highwaj' to the hill. His house 
stood at first wlierc David Rowland's house now stands. There was until 
quite recently wiiat tradition called the " cellar-hole of Mr. Warham's 
liouse" on tJKi liill near the jjresent liighway. He married Jane, the widow 
of Tlionias Newberr}', and had four daughters, born 1G3S-1G44. His 
first wife died in Dorchester, 1G34, leaving a son, Samuel, who died here, 
1G47. 

Robert Watson (1G4G) bought Thomas Dibble's place and exchanged it for 
Anthony Hawkins's place, 1G50. He married Marv, daughter of John 
Roikwell, 1G4G, and had live sons and two dauglitere. 

Richard Weller (1G40) had a lot granted to him eleven rods wide. He sold 
to Nicholas Sonsion, 1643, and bouglit the George Stuckey place on Backer 
Row, 164-5, and also the adjoining lot, with house built by Youngs. He mar- 
ried Anna Wilson in 1G40, and had four sons and two daughters. His wife 
died, I60.5. He removed to Farmington. 

Artiur Williams (1G40) had Josliua Carter's place. He married Carter's 
daugiiter, 1647, and liad one child. He sold the place in 1658. 

John Williams (1044) bought fourteen acres. He married Mary Burlly, 1644, 
and had two sons and six daughters. His son John married Bethia, widow 
of Thomas Maskell and daughter of Thomas Parsons, 1672. He had three 
sons. 

Roger Williams (1639), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him thirteen rods 
wide. His wife died here in 164.5, and he returned to Dorchester in or 
before 1G47. 

Robert Wilson (1G47) bought half tlie Simon Hoyte place, which he sold to 
William Thrall, 1G54. 

David W'ilton (1G40), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him in the Pali- 
sado seven rods wide. He added to it by purchase the lots of Hill, Bassett, 
and Gibbs, and sold the whole to John W^itchfield, 1660, and removed to 
Northampton, but died here, 1677. 

Robert 'Winciiell (1637), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him twelve 
roils wide (now bounds X. Bissell's, Ferry road). He sold to Richard Samos, 
and bought the llannum and the Tilly lots. His sons Nathaniel and Jonathan 
were born before he came here. He liad three sons and three daugliters born 
here, 1G37-1652. He died, 1667. His son Nathaniel married Sarah Porter, 
and had three sons and one daughter, 160,5-1677. The homestead was his. 
Jonathan married Abigail Biunson, and had one son ; in 1667 lie removed to 
Suffield. David married Elizabeth, daughter of William Filly, in 1669. He 
had one son and two daughters, and removed to Suffield. 

John W^itchfield (1640), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him sixteen and 
three fourths rods wide (now Grace Church and tlie Rev. Mr. Tuttle's ])lace). 
He had no children. His wife died in 1059. in tlie spring of IGGl he sold 
his place to John Moore, and bouglit liavid Wilton's place. Here he liv<»d 
with his kinswoman, Elizabetli Dolman, until her marriage with John Filer 
in 1672, when he gave them the place. He died in 1678. 



560 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



UicHARD AVhitehead (1640) had a lot ten rods wide. He died early. His 
widow sold his place to Tliomas Orton. 

Henry Wolcott (1636), from Dorchester, had a lot granted to him ten rods 
wide. His children were born in England. Botli himself and wife died, 
1655. Of his sons, Henry had a lot granted to him twelve rods wide. He 
married Sarah, daughter of Thomas Newberry, 1641, and had three sons and 
two daugliters. After the death of his brotlier Christopher he had his fatlier's 
homestead. He died, 1680. Christopher had a lot granted to him six rods 
wide. He had no family, and died, 1662. His brother Simon had liis place. 
George removed to Wethersfield. Simon married first a daughter of Aaron 
Cook in 1657. She died a month after, and he married Martha Pitkin, "late 
from England," 1661. He had three sons and three daugliters. He lived 
first on the Richard Whitehead place ; second, on his brother Christopher's 
place. He removed to Simsbury previous to King Philip's War, and he tlien 
removed to the east side of the Great River. 

John Wyatt (1649) only appears on record when his lot of two acres was sold 
to Owen Tudor, 1649. 

John Youngs (1641) bought William Hubbard's lot on Backer Row, twenty- 
nine rods wide, in 1641. He sold it, with "appurtenances," to Walter Hoyte 
in 1649. 




THE HAYDEN HOMESTEAD. 



The Levi Hayden house, of which a cut is given above, is located in Windsor, 
at " Hayden's," half a mile from the site of the original William Hayden house. 
It was built in 1737 by Samuel Hayden, a great-grandson of William. The late 
Levi Hayden was born here in 1773, and his family still occupy the house. The 
forest oak which overshadows it is doubtless much older than the building ; its 
trunk is four feet in diameter, and its branches spread nearly ninety feet. 



XXVIII. 

WIND so II LOCMvS. 

BY JABEZ II. IIAYUliX, E.S(^ 

'TTT'IXnsOR L()CKS fonnpily constituted that part of the tnvra of 
VV Windsor called Pinrmeadow. The meadow itself lifs at the 
soutiu'astern extremity of the present town, abont two miles 
from the centre of the village. The village is situated on the Connecti- 
cut River, twelve miles above Hartford. The Enfield Falls Canal was 
com])lete(l in 1829, and the Connecticut River Company, anticipating 
the building up of a manui'acturing village here, wished to associate 
tiieir work with the name of the coming town. The upper end of the 
canal, with its head lock, was in the town of Sulheld ; the hiwer end, 
with its series of locks, in Windsor, — henee the name of Windsor 
Locks. A post-office established in 183o gave the name official recog- 
nition. The village was set off from Windsor as a separate town in 
1854. No evidence appears that a single family of Indians lived within 
the limits of this town when the first English settlement was made at 
Windsor, though abundant testimony lias been found that they once 
occupied and douiitless cultivated this meadow. Within the recollec- 
tion of the writer there liave been repeated discoveries of Indian graves 
in and around the meailow. Fifty years ago a small copper kettle 
(European) holding altout three gills was found in one; and quite re- 
cently two Indian skeletons were micovcrcd, and with them were fomid 
beads of cojiper and bone, bugles of pottery, and implements of stone 
consisting of arrow-heads, axes, knives, etc., and two stone whistles. 
A hundred years ago the writer's father ploughed up in the meadow a 
stone vessel the capacity of which was about one gallon. 

The village occupies the mulheastcrn portion of the town, and has 
a moderately productive soil. The western part of the town is a plain, 
with a light, sandy soil. Much of it was cultivated in rye and corn 
sixty years ago, but many of the fields have since been left to grow up 
to wood. The plains are seamed with ravines, in which run the clearest 
brooks, once well stocked with trout. Across this plain, at the head of 
these ravines, once ran the " old country road," the first road opened 
on the west side of the river between the settlements of Connecticut 
and Massachusetts, laid out there because it re(piired no bridges, and 
litile laiior to work it. This remained the great thoroughfare nearly 
one hundred and ninety years; jiarts of it now are overgrown with 
weeds. 

The first distribution of land in Pinemeadow was eighty rods in 
width on the river, and included all the meadow land and a few lots 
adjoining the meadow. A lot a quarter of a mile wide, bounding on 

VOL. II. — 30. 



562 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

the river and extending from about the middle of the meadow on the 
south to about forty rods north of tlie railroad de|5ot, was originally set 
to Thomas Ford, of Windsor. In 1663 he sold it to Henry, son of 
Nicholas Denslow, who built his house hei"e, probably the same year, 
at " the higher end of Pinemeadow." He broiiglit his family here, 
wliere they lived alone (their nearest neighbor lieing "William IJavden, 
two miles away) until tlic brealving out of King Pliilip's War; then tlicy 
fled to Windsor. Tradition says lie ventured back alone, against the 
entreaties of his friends. He was captured and killed by the party of 
Indians wlio afterward burned Simsbury.^ His death jjrobably oc- 
curred March 25, 1676 (April 4, N.S.). The site of his house was 
marked with a flint bowlder, suitably inscribed, on tlie two hundredth 
anniversary of liis death. After the war the family — one son of seven- 
teen, the widow, and seven daughters — returned, and lived here twelve 
years more, without nearer neighbors than before. Tiie son continued 
to live on tlie spot imtil his death at a good old age, and two of his 
sons, Samuel and Joseph, built houses and remained on the homestead. 
The descendants of Henry Denslow still 
^ /i _ff „ own the site of the first hotise and a part 

*kl^U ^a^Ihj of the original farm. In 1678 Natlianiel 
^ Gaylord, grandson of Deacon William Gay- 

lord, of Windsor, settled near the present site of Wilbert Gaylord's 
house, on the west side of the meadow ; the family have continued to 
occupy tlie place to the present time. 

It was about thirty years later (1708-1709) that the next family came 
to Pinemeadow, — that of Abraham Dibl)le, grandson of Thomas Dibble, 
also of Windsor. His house and lot 
/f / r^ C^ '/> / were a little southeast of tlie present 

Ci^y^a/ui^ XQt ^J>iCO~^ barns of Mrs. Webb. The ravine which 
rrtavJi: skirted the south side of his lot is still 

called Dibble Hollow. Only two gen- 
erations remained here, and in 1752 they removed to the newly settled 
town of Torrington. The next family, also from Windsor stock, was 
Ezekiel Thrall's. He built on the corner of Elm and Centre streets in 
1765. His wife died in 1776, and lie ^^ ^ » ^ ^-t 
removed. His house, originally of one It^T^-^^^^^ii^T^^^Cgj/^ 
story, was enlarged and another story ^ >ts*V 

added about 1800. It is now standing a few rods west of its original 
site. Pelatiah Birge came here from Windsor soon after, and built about 
a mile northwest of Tiirall's. Most of 
/f J di / Ji . 'lis farm is still in tlie possession of tliat 

'^d'Ctay* S)l^f£- family. The original house was pulled 
^ down in 1876. Samuel Coye and Ensign 

Samuel Wing built houses on West Street before the Revolutionary 
War. Their families are non- gone, and tlie houses ^ ^ 
they Iniilt have disappeared. t7i?*»» . ^>>^»^^ 

In 1769 Jabez Haskell and Seth Dexter, of Roch- ^ 



ester, Mass., bought the land lying between the 
river and Centre Street, extending south to School Street, and north to 
a little beyond Grove Street. On this tract are located nearly all the 
mills and tlic business portion of the town. There was no public 
1 See History of Simsbury, p. 344. 



WINDSUR LOCKS. 



5G;5 



liighwav across it, and it was nearly twenty years before tlic ferry was 
ostablishctl. A saw-mill had been built by the Denslows on Kettle 



15 mi 



and 



uv-niill 



^i^^e^ /^^a/C<e^ 



I'litii, now Elm Street, 

was open to bring logs 

from the plains to the 

saw-mill ; and prolfubly 

till! trespass road across 

Cai)tain Denslow's lot through the cemetery to the saw-mill was also 

used to go to the fording-place across the Connecticut at the mouth of 

^ Kettle Brook. 

■^ ' When we 

come to the 
summer of 
IT TO we have 
nine families, 

— two Denslows, two Gaylords, Coye, Birge, Wing, Haskell, and Dex- 
ter. Tradition tells us tliat the head of each of these families, except 
Coye's, was at one 



V^_,.^Xi:=^r^S^c.<ii'>'7<:'^^J <^^->^ 



tunc scrvmg n 
army. Others 



the 
be- 
sides these served 
some time during the 
war. Ensign Samuel 
Wing, Samuel Coye, 
and Elihu, son of 
Samuel I)enslow,died 
in service. Captain 
Martin Dcnslow was 
honored after the war 
by being admitted in- 
to the Society of the 
Cincinnati. 

In the War of 1812 
Pinenieadow fur- 
nished the orderly 
sergeant — David 
Pinney — of a volun- 
teer company com- 
posed largely of 
Windsor men, wlio 
served at Now Li>n- 
don. 

In the War of the 
Rebellion this town 
furnished one hun- 
dred and sixty-four 
men. At the first 
call for three-months 
men a large nunil)er 




responded "at once, organized a company, chose a ca]itain ;uul lust 
lieutenant trom their number, and joined the First Regiment Connccti- 



564 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

cut Volunteers. They participated in the first battle of Bull Run. 
This town lost in battle one major (Converse), one captain (Hayden), 
one first lieutenant (Phelps), and three privates; one private died of 
wounds and ten of disease, — total, seventeen. 

Pinemeadow at first was included in the Ecclesiastical Society of 
Windsor, and the people worshipped with the church there. Nearly 
all the descendants of the early settlers continued their connection with 
that church until the first church was organized here. A Sunday 
school was organized at the school-house in 1831, and Sabbath services, 
including preaching, were established in 1833. A chapel was built in 
1834. In 1844 a Congregational church was organized, eleven of the 
fifteen members bringing their letters from tlie Congregational church 
in Windsor. In 1847 they built a church at a cost of $5,000, which 
was burned in 1877, and the present edifice was built on the same site, 
at a cost of f 23,000. The membership of the church is now al)out one 
hundred and twenty-five. 

A Roman Catholic church \vas built sooii after the Congregational. 
It is estimated that one third of the present population are connected 
with that body. 

The Methodist denomination, which had sustained religious services 
in the school4iouse and elsewhere for a considei'able time, erected a 
church in 1865, at a cost of .|10,000. Their present membership is 
about one hundred. 

The Episcopalians built a stone church in 1872, which cost about 
$12,000. Their present communicants number about fifty. 

It was more than a century from the first settlement of Pinemeadow 
before this was constituted a separate school district ; but the children 
were not suffered to grow up in ignorance. Nathaniel Gaylord was 
born here in 1751, and became a minister of respectable attainments. 
He was a life-long jmstor of the Congregational church of West Hart- 
land. The first school-house was built about 1770, largely if not en- 
tirely by Jabez Haskell and Seth Dexter. It stood on the southeast 
. - --, corner of Elm and Centre streets, on Mr. Dex- 

» 'X/Fa^AJ £/^ /^^^ ^"-^^"'"^ land; and they were probably the parties 
iyi/^/'^a^ '^"^ responsible for the support of the school.i 
Before 1800 a good public school was maintained hei'e, and about 1850 
the district was divided and two new school-houses were built. The 
districts were again united in 1868, and the present school building was 
erected at a cost of $32,000. This accommodates a graded school with 
six rooms and eight teachers. The former South District schooWiouse 
continues to be occupied for a ]3rimary school. The present enumera- 
tion of scholars is seven hinidred and twenty. This school was the 
first to issue certificates of attendance to those scholars under foui'tecn 
who had comi)lied with the reqinrements of the law regarding the em- 
ployment of children in factories. This .system was adopted on petition 
of the mamifacturcrs to the school board, Aug. 20, 1868. Since then 
the State has incorporated the system into its school laws. 

The charter for a ferry across the Connecticut River was granted 
in 1783. There was then no jmblic road east of Centre Street; but in 
1788 the town laid out a highway from the ferry to Centre Street, 

' Jatez Haskell's account-book lias a cliavgs, under date of 1777, to Samuel Wing " for 
schooling your children 7s." 



WINDSOR LOCKS. 



665 



cntcrino; it a little north of Oak Street. At the same time Elm Street 
was made a pul.lic hijrhway. A trespass road was oiitimicd across 
Ilaskuil it Doxtor's inilldani, and thence to the ierrv. Except when 
they had a favoring soutii wind, the ferrymen propelled their boat by 
" polinji- ■' or rowing-. About thirty years ago a pier was built above the 















— 




^ 


H^ ;M'=:rSf^ jil 










hi^pi^_4_''"'j*' ^^ 


_^j.. 


— — . 


^Vj 


<a-^^^j 




-^m 


^T- ■^^-i^'iW 

















TUE FEKRY TO EAST WINDSOR. 



ferry about midway of the river, from which a wire runs to the boat, 
and by which it is swung from side to side. 

The whole manufacturing system has been changed within the last 
sixty or seventy years. Previous to that time all well-to-do families 
raised their wool and flax, and spun and wove the material foi- their 
ordinary clothing.' Calicoes, silks, and broadcloths were worn only 
on rare occasions. Girls were ambitious to learn to spin wool, linen, 
and tow, and to make such proficicncn- in the art that they could accom- 
plish "a day's work before the middle of the afternoon." It was the 
work of the men to ])repare the flax — to rot, to break, to swingle, and to 
hatchel it — before it passed into the hands of the women. In earlier 
times men learned and jiractised the trade of the weaver; but later, the 
weaving devolved largely upon the women. The tangled i)roduct of 
the hatclielling process was called tow, and was made into -tow-cloth" 
for men's and i)oys' summer wear. •• A tow-head " was then a significant 
term of ridicule for a flaxen-haired i)oy or girl whose toilet had been 
neglected. For many years woollen cloths were subjected to no fin- 
ishing process after being taken from the loom. The first mill for 
cloth-dressing in this part of the country was set up here, on the site of 

' The late CliielMnsticc Ellsworth likfd to tell how ho discovoruil the charms anil worth 
of his wife. He had called to see another niemher of Mr. Wolcott's nuiiily while the younger 
daughter, Abigail, sat carding tow in the corner. " Her black eyes looking up through tin 
tow-dust " from time to time so cbarDicd him that he asked for Abigail when he went the next 
time. 



^.^"^ a 111 

"Ucci/^thn. 4^/<^i^ ami 



566 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

('. \V. riolbrook's mill, on Kettle Brook. Mr. Heth Dexter brought tiie 
art with liiiu from the eastern part of Massachusetts, and set up Ids mill 
in 1770. Wool-carding by machinery possibly came in at the same 
time ; this relieved the women's work, and gave them better rolls to 
spin than the hand-cards produced. Dexter's clothier works were 
run here about sixty years. Young men learned the clothier's trade 
here and set up their business in other places ; and following the tide 
of emigration west, the art of cloth-dressing and wool-carding was 
continued there after the trade had been superseded here by the intro- 
duction of woollen-factories. 

Water-power was first used to run a saw-mill on Kettle Brook, 
which was being built, or rebuilt, by the Denslow family in 1742 ; at 
that date half of it was sold to Daniel Hayden, and afterward the other 
half was sold to his brother Isaac Hayden. About twenty years later, 
Daniel Hayden had failed, and in 17G9 it passed into the hands of 
Haskell k Dexter, whose families operated it jointly three quarters of 
a century, when the Dexter family became sole owners, and they still 
continue it in operation. 

As early as 1781 a small grist-mill was set up on Pinenieadow Brook, 

a mile and a half from the present 
'"' ige, by Ensign Eliakim Gaylord 
. . - and Elijah Higley. It passed into 

of J the hands of Jacob Russell, who 

continued it about thirty years. The mill was afterward used for 
wool-carding, and later had several other transformations. The site is 
now occupied by William English's [laper-mill. 

In 1784 Haskell k Dexter built a grist-mill below their saw-mill, 
and it was kept in operation until the building of the canal destroyed 
the water-power. They also built 
in 1819 the grist-mill which is n j^ ^ y y^ 

still conducted by the Dexter ^yi^LCi^ ^'\Jf^''^^^ ~ 

family. Formerly, these grist- ^ 

mills were supported by the farmers, who brought " grists " of corn, 
rye, and wheat, which the miller tolled to pay the grinding. Though 
still called a grist-mill, the grists are wanting. The supply of corn 
comes almost exclusi\ely by the car-load f i-om the West, some of .it 
from beyond the Mississippi. Few farmers in this vicinity raise suffi- 
cient corn for their own stock, but find their supply at the grist-mill. 
Instead of bringing their rye, as they formerly did, to be converted into 
fiour, they now come to the grist-mill and buy Western flour. 

In 1811 Herlehigh and Harris Haskell (who were born and spent 
their lives here) built a gin-distillery on the site of the present silk- 

mill. The enterprise was 
■ ^ '/ ,^^^^ y^ yy hailed as a great boon to all 
yp^i^^ t:^'''CCC>^^^ ^ the neighboring towns, be- 
C^ cause it made a market for 

» ^ yf^ ^/7 their rye and corn. The 

yZ^y*>y^ pJ%sC^ '^^l^i'^^ business was successfully 

iybctfiAjt^ ^ f prosecuted until 1833, when 

the proprietors abandoned tlic business at considerable pecuniary saci"i- 
fice, because they could no longer consistently pursue it. 

When, in 1636, Mr. Pyncheon, of Springfield, Mass.. sent his supplies 



WINDSOR LOCKS. 



667 



around from Boston by water, his vessels could proceed no further, 
after reaching tlie foot of these falls. Ho then provided land-carriage 
fourteen miles to ^iiringlield. He huilt a wurehou.se on the cast side 
of the river at the highest practicable point his vessels coidd reach, to 
store his goods while awaitliiii- tiausit, and culled the landing-place 




Warehouse I'oint, — a name the present village still retains. This 
warehouse probably stood about fifty rods below the present ferry -land- 
ing. We do not know how early scow-boats which could ascend these 
rapids were first provided, but in 1820 there were about sixty of them 
engaged in freighting between Hartford and " the uij-river towns." 
Their capacity was from twelve to eighteen tons each. Coasting ves- 
sels rarely came above Hartford at that time. Except when the south 
wind blew, the slow and toilsome ])rogress tliesi^ boats made against the 
stream was by " poling." Wlien they reached Warehouse Point, all over 
twelve tons of their freight was discharged and carted to Thompsonville, 
five miles above, by ox-teams, and there reship|)ed. It recpiired twelve 
men to '• pole " the boat over the falls after it had been lightened. 

In 1824 the Connecticut River Company was cliarteivd, for the pur- 
pose of improving the navigation by removing sand-l)ars and building 
canals. Pi'ovision was made in the charter to cover all the improve- 
ments made and to l)e made to Barnet, Vermont, |)rovided the Ir^tates 
of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont would approve tlie 

1 Tlic H.iskcll House, l)iiilt by Jabez Haskell, 1774. The dins which overshadow it were 

set in 1799 by his son, HdU-high H.iskell, who su odcil his fathrr, and died here in 1858. 

The premises are now owned by Jabez Ha.skell Ilayden, a grandson. 



568 .MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

charter, and agreement could be made with the parties interested in 
improvements already made. The State of Vermont ratified the char- 
ter, the others did not; and the Connecticut River Company. confined 
itself to building the Enfield Falls Canal. The west side of tlie river 
was found most feasible for the work, and our village is the result of 
that selection. The parties engaged in the enterprise of building this 
canal were mostly Hartford men, interested in building up their trade 
with the up-river towns, and competing with New Haven merchants, 
who were Ijuilding a canal from that place to Northampton, to reach 
the Connecticut River. Though the improvement of navigation was 
the primary object, yet the projectors of the work considered the water- 
power a valuable part of their franchise. 

The ojjcning of the canal was celebrated Nov. 11, 1820. Thomas 
Blanchard, of Springfield, was present with his newly invented stern- 
wheel steamer. The writer i-emcmbers ilr. Blanchard's request that 
all excc]it the stockholders should leave the steamer when the proces- 
sion went through the canal, that the stockholders might have a good 
opportunity to see how little the waves from his steamboat washed the 
baidvs of the canal. After the opening of the canal the capacity of the 
freight-boats was much increased. It would be impracticable to get 
the boats now in use up over the falls at any stage of the water, or 
even down in time of low water. For about fifteen years a daily line of 
passenger steamers ran between Hartford and Springfield, — a part of 
the time two lines ; but when the railroads were built along the river, 
both the passenger and freight business went into an early decline. 
There are three or four freight-boats and a steam-tug plying between 
Hartford and Holyoke, and about the same number of large scows, 
which bring coal and some other heavy freight to this place. 

In 1831 Jonathan Danforth, of New York, built a mill for the manu- 
facture of door-butts ; but the business proved unsuccessful and was 
abandoned. Three or four years later Samuel Williams, of Hartford, 
built a paper-mill, which was a financial failure in the panic of 1837. 
A corporation was then formed, which had no better success. 

In 1836 Carleton, of New Hampshire, and Niles, of Hartford, built 
a saw-mill, their logs coming from the head-waters of the Connecticut. 
The business was prosperously conducted for several years, when their 
buildings were converted into a paper-mill. 

About 1836 Charles Haskell Dexter began in a small way the man- 
ufacture of wrapping-paper in a basement room of the grist-mill, his 
water-power being supplied l)y Kettle Brook. He was born Sejjt. 19, 
1810, the only son of Seth Dexter, whose father (Seth Dexter) pur- 
chased, in company with Jabez Haskell, the tract of land .which com- 
prises most of the present village of Windsor Locks, and settled here 
in 1769. A decided bent towards mechanic and manufacturing indus- 
tries seems to have been a family trait, and in the case of Charles H. 
Dexter was a specially marked characteristic. His first adventure in 
paper-making began in connection with the Haskell and Dexter grist- 
mill, utilizing the waste water-power of that mill. This enterprise was 
attended with little or no profit except the knowledge which comes of 
experience, but it laid the foundation for better results. About ten 
years later, in 1847, Mr. Dexter built a new mill on the ground now 
covered by the C. H. Dexter <fe Sons' paper-works, in which, under more 



WINDSOR LOCKS. 669 

favornlilc coiulitions and by virtue of improved methods of his own 
devisins:-, tin- business became hijrhly i)n)lital)le. and the products of_thc 
mill came to rank amdnir the liest goods in the market. In l85o he 
beeanic president of the Conneeticut River Company, and in the fif- 
teen vears of his administration made a fairly renumcrative property 
of that which had been almost valueless to the stockholders. To his 
enterprising and judicious management the company owes its large 
increase of water-power in the canal, and the village its conseiiuent 
•rrowth of manufacturing industries. Jlr. Dexter never sought or held 
iinv civil or politieal oiliee. But there were no matters att'ecting the 
welfare of the conmiunity which did not awaken his lively interest, and 
he was foremost in all measures of public imi)rovement. The imjiress 
of his mind and hand was to be seen on all the material interests of 
the town. But his best work was in those things which eoneern the 
iii<>-her well-being of cverv community, — the school, the home, the 
church. He was a central" fmurc in all the best activities of this eom- 
numity for thiHv vears. And his life, taken in all its l)eariMgs, was by 
far the most influential that AVindsor Locks has known. Mr. Dexter 
was a man of remarkablv line presence and winning address, with 
a commandiusr form, slightly bowed in his later years by rheumatic 
suffering. lie was of quick and clear apprehension, systematic in busi- 
ness, hopeful and earnest in whatever he undertook, responding freely 
and gladly to calls for help, whether in money or jicrsonal service. He 
diedihe 29th of Auffiist, 1889, in his lilty-ninth year. 

In 1838 the silk-mill of Haskell A- llayden was set in operation, and 
at first confined almost exclusively to the manufacture of sewing-silk. 
Raw silk had been raised and manufactured into sewing-silk in fami- 
lies for many years in Mansfield, and some ])rogress had been made in 
its manufacture there by machinery. Three years before, the Connecti- 
cut Hilk Manufacturing'Compauy, under the i)atronageof the State, had 
been .started at Hartford. The junior partner had served three years 
with that comiianv, and l)rought to the work such skill as hail then 
been attained in this conntrv. The business was still new, and almost 
evervthim.^ vet to be learned. The stock worked the first year was 
long-reeled China raw silk, which requires the highest skilled labor to 
wind successfully ; but it had to be wound by unskilled hands. A lialf- 
pound a day was more than the hands averaged, and the waste made 
was often twentv-livc per cent. With better-prepared raw sdk, an 
experienced hand now winds from five to ten pounds. Sewnig-silk has 
been the specialty of this mill from the beginning. After sewuig- 
machines were invented, macbine-twist was added, and other goods 
have been worked to some extent. The silk-manufacture of this coun- 
try, since these small beuinnings, has grown to include nearly nil vane- 
ties of silk goods, and now requires the annual imi)ortation ot millions 
of dollars worth of raw silk to supply it. , , • 

In 1839 Royal Prontv,from Spencer, Mass., commenced the business 
of wire-drawing. He built a new mill in 184<>, and enlarged Ins busi- 
ness, emplovinir about a dozen men. He was mod.'rately suecesslul 
until 18.''>7, when he failed, and thr business was not again resumed. 

In 1839 James II. Wells, Jr., and John F. Wells built a small paper- 
mill, which thev worked a few years, but were not successful. After 
passing into other hands, the mill was burned in 184 1. 



570 MEMOIUAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 

In 1844 H. A. Converse, who came from Stafford, set up an iron- 
foundry, which was successfully carried on by him until his recent 
death, and is now under the charge of his son, A. W. Converse. 

In 1844 Slate & Brown came here from Stafford, and built a 
machine-shop, and for several years were engaged in building cotton- 
macliiuery. Their works gave a marked impetus to the growing popu- 
lation of the village. During the war their mill was used as an armory 
by Denslow & Chase, and many hands were employed making guns. 
The mill has had several transformations since. 

In 1845 Ripley's rolling-mill was built by Philip & Edwin G. Eipley, 
of Hartford. They soon after added to their work the manufacture of 
steel, and continued business here several years without becoming resi- 
dents of the village. Later, the Farist Steel Company enlarged the 
works, and by an improved process of converting steel were very suc- 
cessful, having produced a quality of steel in great demand among 
gun-makers during the War of the Relielliou. 

Messrs. Persse & Brooks, of New York, who bought and enlarged 
the Williams mill, built in 1833, had run it several years previous to 
1856, when they built and set in operation the largest paper-mill then 
running in this country. In 1857 they obtained a charter of incorpo- 
ration, with a ca,]iital stock of 1450,000 ; but they were overwhelmed 
in the financial panic which immediately followed. The corporation 
struggled on with the business four years, when it became insolvent. 
It was resuscitated, and its corporate name changed to the Seymour 
Company, and it is now running at its full capacity. 

Eli Horton, of Stafford, a skilful machinist, who had resided here 
several years, invented a lathe-chuck, which has superseded all previous 
inventions in this line, and its manufacture has {u-oved a source of 
much profit. The business was carried on under the name of E. Horton 
& Son, in a large mill built for the work, until the death of the son 
(1873), when the business was organized with coi-porate powers. 

The Medlicott Company, which is engaged in the production of knit 
goods, has a large mill, an outgrowth from a small business begun by 
William G. Medlicott, of Longmeadow, Mass., aliout twenty years ago. 
It has been among the foremost in the introduction of improved 
machinery, and produces the highest class of goods. 

J. R. Montgomery & Co. began the manufacture of cotton warps in 
the Connecticut River Company's building in 1871. They have recently 
added another mill, and now occupy both. 

Nearly twenty years ago Dwight Holbrook set up the manufacture 
of school apparatus at the old Dexter clothier works, on Kettle Brook, 
on the west side of Centre Street. The establishment is widely known, 
and is still continued by his son, C. W. Holbrook. 

Several other parties who were valued citizens have from time to 
time been engaged in manufacturing here ; but the space allotted to 
this article forbids further detail. 



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